REESE    LIBRARY 

OP   THE 

UNIVERSITY    OF    CALIFORNIA. 

Received^  _  t^>f&^2£4/__- 

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Accessions  No.  _  _  ^y_^_^~^         Slu 


3 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY, 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY: 


OR 


ILLUSTRATIONS  OF  THE  HANDIWORK, 


IN  STONE,  BONE  AND  CLAY, 


OF   THE 


NATIVE  RACES 


OF 


THE  NORTHERN  ATLANTIC  SEABOARD  OF  AMERICA. 


BY  CHARLES  C.  ABBOTT,  M.  D., 

Cor.  Member  Boston  Society  of  Natural  History;  Fellow  Royal  Society 
of  Antiquaries  of  the  North  Copenhagen,  etc.,  etc. 


it   Li»MA2\ 

OF   THE  '       >^ 


((UNIVERSITY: 


SALEM,  MASS. : 
GEORGE    A.    BATES. 

CINCINNATI : 
ROBERT  CLARKE   &   CO. 

1881. 


COPYRIGHT 

BY 

GEORGE    A.     BATES, 
~ 


PRINTED  AT  THE  SALEM  PRESS-, 

Corner  of  Liberty  and  Derby  Streets, 

SALEM,  MASS, 


PREFACE. 


LITTLE  need  be  added  by  way  of  a  preface  to  the  present 
volume. 

The  work  may  be  said  to  be  the  natural  outcome  of  the  fact 
that  the  author  lives  in  a  neighborhood  once  densely  populated  by 
the  Indians,  as  attested  by  the  thousands  of  stone  implements  that 
are  scattered  over  the  fields. 

As  in  the  course  of  my  rambles  in  search  of  relics,  I  have  always 
met  with  kindness  and  aid  from  all  who  could  assist  me,  it  is  scarcely 
practicable  to  mention  every  one  who  kindly  offered  assistance,  gave 
me  specimens,  and  in  other  ways  furthered  the  undertaking.  Many, 
however,  have  been  named  in  the  text,  in  connection  with  the  speci 
mens  they  have  furnished,  or  the  information  derived  from  them. 

Still  I  feel  it  is  incumbent  upon  me  to  acknowledge  my  indebted 
ness  to  Prof.  F.  W.  Putnam,  Curator  of  the  Museum  of  Archaeology, 
at  Cambridge,  Mass.,  and  to  Lucien  Carr,  Esq.,  assistant  curator 
of  the  same  institution.  Without  the  aid  so  kindly  rendered  by  them, 
it  is  doubtful  if  the  volume  could  have  been  completed. 

I  am  also  indebted  to  the  late  Prof.  S.  S.  Haldeman  for  the 
kindly  interest  he  took  in  all  that  pertained  to  the  preparation  of 
the  work.  The  treasures  of  his  cabinet  were  always  at  my  disposal, 
and  I  have  drawn  from  it  and  from  his  correspondence,  almost  all  the 
matter  relating  to  the  archaeology  of  the  valley  of  the  Susquehanna 
river. 

To  Henry  Carvill  Lewis,  of  Philadelphia,  my  grateful  acknowl 
edgment  is  also  due  for  assistance  in  many  ways  ;  and  particularly 

(v) 


VI  PREFACE. 

for  the  chapter  containing  the  results  of  his  latest  investigations  into 
the  geology  of  the  Delaware  river  valley,  which  he  has  contributed  to 
the  work.  By  so  doing,  he  has  added  greatly  to  the  scientific  value 
of  that  portion  relating  to  the  evidences  of  Palaeolithic  Man  on  the 
Atlantic  seaboard  of  North  America. 

It  is  a  pleasant  duty,  furthermore,  to  acknowledge,  at  this  time, 
my  great  indebtedness  to  my  father,  Timothy  Abbott,  Esq.,  of  Trenton, 
N.  J.,  whose  unfailing  interest  in  my  labors,  and  substantial  encour 
agement  in  meeting  many  of  the  expenses  of  the  undertaking,  enabled 
me  to  overcome  many  difficulties  that  seemed  insurmountable. 

To  the  Hon.  Abram  S.  Hewitt,  of  New  York,  I  am  greatly  in 
debted  for  valuable  aid,  here,  most  gratefully  acknowledged. 

In  conclusion,  I  would  add  that  the  series  of  illustrations  of 
objects  from  California,  which  have  been  used  for  purposes  of  com 
parison,  are  copied  from  the  Seventh  Volume  of  the  U.  S.  Geographical 
Surveys  West  of  looth  Meridian;  ('apt.  (i.  M.  Wheeler  in  Charge; 
and  their  use  in  advance  of  the  appearance  of  that  volume  arises  from 
the  fact  that  the  author  was  associated  with  Prof.  Putnam,  its  principal 
author,  in  its  preparation. 

Realizing  how  much  is  yet  to  be  done  in  the  field  of  investigation 
treated  in  this  volume,  the  work  has  been  written,  not  so  much,  indeed, 
with  the  hope  that  it  may  add  materially  to  our  common  stock  of 
knowledge,  as  that  it  may  induce  others  to  explore  such  localities 
as  they  have  the  opportunity  of  doing,  and  to  preserve  such  traces  of 
early  man  as  they  may  find  by  placing  them  in  public  museums.  If, 
in  so  doing,  my  readers  shall  find  this  volume  a  worthy  guide,  my 
pleasant  labors  during  the  many  years  in  which  I  have  been  a  collector 
will  ever  remain  a  happy  recollection. 

Prospect  Hill :  Trenton,  N.  J. 
July  i,  1881. 


TABLE     OF     CONTENTS. 


Chapter 

L- 

Chapter 

II.- 

Chapter 

III.- 

Chapter 

IV.- 

Chapter 

V.- 

Chapter 

•  VI.- 

Chapter 

VII.- 

Chapter 

VIII.- 

Chapter 

IX.- 

Chapter 

X.- 

Chapter 

XI.- 

Chapter 

XII.- 

Chapter 

XIII. 

Chapter 

.  XIV. 

Chapter 

XV. 

Chapter 

XVI. 

Chapter 

XVII. 

Chapter 

XVIII.  - 

Chapter 

XIX. 

Chapter 

XX. 

Chapter 

XXI. 

Chapter 

XXII. 

Chapter 

XXIII. 

Chapter 

XXIV.  - 

Chapter 

XXV. 

Chapter 

XXVI. 

Chapter 

XXVII. 

Chapter 

XXVIII. 

Chapter 

XXIX. 

Chapter 

XXX. 

Chapter 

XXXI. 

Chapter 

XXXII. 

Chapter 

XXXIII. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

STONE   AXES. 

CELTS,    CHISELS   AND    GOUGES. 
•GROOVED    HAMMERS. 
•SEMILUNAR   KNIVES. 
-CHIPPED   FLINT   KNIVES. 
-DRILLS,   AWLS   OR    PERFORATORS. 

•  SCRAPERS. 

•SLICKSTONES   AND   SINEW   DRESSERS. 
•MORTARS   AND    PESTLES. 

•  POTTERY. 

-STEATITE  FOOD-VESSELS. 
-PITTED  STONES. 
-CHIPPED  FLINT  IMPLEMENTS. 
-BONE  IMPLEMENTS. 
-AGRICULTURAL  IMPLEMENTS. 

-  PLUMMETS. 
-NET  SINKERS. 

-SPEARPOINTS  AND  ARROWHEADS. 
-FLINT  DAGGERS. 

•GROOVED  STONE  CLUB-HEADS. 

*  PIPES. 

-DISCOIDAL   STONES. 
•INSCRIBED   STONES. 
-CEREMONIAL   OBJECTS. 
-BIRD-SHAPED   STONES. 

-GORGETS,   TOTEMS,   PENDANTS   AND   TRINKETS. 
-COPPER   IMPLEMENTS. 

-HAND-HAMMERS   AND   RUBBING   STONES. 
'SHELL   HEAPS. 
-FLINT   CHIPS. 

-  PALAEOLITHIC   IMPLEMENTS. 

-THE     ANTIQUITY     AND     ORIGIN     OF     THE     TRENTON 
GRAVELS. 


CHAPTER  I 


INTRODUCTORY. 


WHILE  the  early  inhabitants  of  the  continent  of  North  America  are 
collectively  known  as  "  Indians,"  it  has  been  long  ascertained  that  they 
present  distinctions  which  widely  separate  them,  and  possibly  point 
to  several  and  diverse  origins.  A  study,  therefore,  of  the  handiwork 
in  stone,  bone  and  clay,  of  the  former  occupants  of  any  one  portion 
of  the  country  is  not,  of  itself,  sufficient  to  give  an  accurate  knowledge 
of  the  wonderful  variety  of  forms,  and  skill  exhibited,  in  fashioning 
the  articles  which  their  needs  demanded.  Such,  however,  is  the  simi 
larity  existing  among  the  objects  generally  known  as  "  Indian  relics," 
wheresoever  found,  that  we  are  led  to  conclude  that,  to  a  limited  ex 
tent,  through  a  system  of  barter  or  the  vicissitudes  of  warfare,  the 
distinctive  weapons  and  implements  of  one  people  became  mingled 
with  the  home  productions  of  their  neighbors.  It  is  evident,  therefore, 
that,  in  treating  of  the  implements,  weapons  and  ornaments  found  in 
any  one  locality,  we  cannot  be,  at  all  times,  positive  that  any 
given  specimen  is  the  production  of  the  tribe  of  Indians  known  to 
have  inhabited  the  country  where  it  was  found.  The  influence  of  the 
introduction  of  objects  of  European  manufacture  must  also  be  taken 
into  consideration,  as  in  the  century  or  more  that  elapsed  between  the 
visits  of  the  first  explorers  -and  the  arrival  of  the  colonists  at  Plymouth 
and  at  Jamestown,  and  later,  at  Philadelphia,  the  introduction  of  a  few 
foreign  trinkets  and  metal  cooking  vessels  greatly  influenced  the  home 
productions  of  the  various  Indian  nations.  Many  of  the  later  articles 
made  by  them  were  doubtlessly  modelled  from  similar  objects  of  Euro 
pean  origin.  From  this  relinquishment  of  the  customs  established  by 
them,  during  their  happy  ignorance  of  European  civilization,  may  be 

(1) 


2  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

dated  the  termination  of  the  career  of  these  people  in  manufactures 
of  a  purely  American  character.  As  one  of  their  own  people  has 
well  said  : ]  "  we  lived  before  the  English  came  among  us,  as  well  or 
better,  if  we  may  believe  what  our  forefathers  have  told  us.  We  had 
then  room  enough,  and  plenty  of  deer  which  was  easily  caught,  and 
though  we  had  not  knives,  hatchets  nor  guns,  such  as  we  have  now,  yet 
we  had  knives  of  stone,  and  hatchets  of  stone,  and  bows  and  arrows, 
and  these  served  our  uses  as  well  then  as  the  English  ones  do  now." 

As  the  one  general  locality,  extensive  as  it  is,  treated  of  in  the 
present  volume,  does  not  include  any  territory  known  to  have  been 
permanently  occupied  by  the  so-called  Moundbuilders,  the  relationship 
of  that  people  to  the  supposed  ruder  hunting  tribes  of  the  Atlantic 
seaboard  will  not  be  discussed,  although  the  belief  may  be  here  ex 
pressed  that  they  are  not  necessarily  older  than  the  earliest  occupants 
of  the  Eastern  coast. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  somewhat  vague  historical  references  to  the 
presence  of  the  Eskimo  as  permanent  occupants  of  the  coasts  of  the 
New  England  States,  and  even  farther  south,  will  receive  brief  atten 
tion  in  connection  with  a  class  of  objects  which  were  probably  the 
handiwork  of  that  people. 

It  has  been  necessary  to  adopt  some  method  of  classification  in 
studying  the  great  number  of  distinct  patterns  of  stone  and  bone  im 
plements  described  in  the  succeeding  pages.  So  far  as  possible  this 
has  been  done  by  following  the  references  of  the  early  writers,  to  the 
utensils  and  weapons  of  the  Indians.  When  there  were  to  be  found 
no  such  guiding  references,  the  suggested  purposes  are  necessarily 
conjectural ;  and  if  the  suggestions  are,  in  a  few  instances,  made  in  a 
somewhat  ex  cathedra  manner,  it  is  because  the  author  is  fully  con 
vinced  of  the  probability  of  the  suggestion,  and  not  because  it  could 
be  demonstrated  as  true.  In  the  more  general  classification,  how 
ever,  implying  a  greater  antiquity  of  a  given  class  of  objects  over 
those  of  another,  and  in  separating  the  traces  of  the  pre-European 


Acrelius.     Memoirs  Penna.  Historical  Society,  Vol.  XI,  p.  52.     (Speech  of  Canassatego.) 


INTRODUCTORY.  3 

occupants  of  the  eastern  coast  of  North  America  into  three  divisions, 
each  antedating  the  other,  it  is  fully  believed  that  the  facts  justify  the 
implied  relative  antiquity  and  chronological  sequence.  Exception 
therefore  is  firmly  taken  to  the  view  expressed  by  Prof.  Whitney,2  that 
"  it  is  evident  that  there  has  been  no  unfolding  of  the  intellectual  fac 
ulties  of  the  human  race  on  this  continent  which  can  be  parallelized 
with  that  which  has  taken  place  in  Central  Europe.  We  can  recog 
nize  no  palaeolithic,  neolithic,  bronze  or  iron  ages.  Over  most  of  the 
continent,  as  it  seems  to  the  writer,  man  cannot  be  considered  as  hav 
ing  made  any  essential  progress  towards  civilization."  The  careful 
and  systematic  examination  of  the  surface  geology  of  New  Jersey,  of 
itself,  it  is  believed  shows  as  abundant  and  unmistakable  evidence  of 
the  transition  from  a  true  palaeolithic  to  a  neolithic  condition,  as  is  ex 
hibited  in  the  traces  of  human  handiwork  found  in  the  valley  of  any 
European  river.  The  proofs  of  this  earlier  than  an  Indian  occupancy 
of  the  Atlantic  coast  of  North  America,  and  of  the  intermediate 
period  that  connects  this  earlier  with  the  true  Indian  age,  will  consti 
tute  the  second  part  of  the  volume. 

As  the  greater  number,  by  far,  of  the  various  implements  and 
other  objects  of  stone,  bone  and  clay  that  are  here  described,  are  un 
questionably  the  handiwork  of  those  tribes  which  were  in  peaceful 
possession  of  the  Atlantic  coast  when  first  visited  by  European  ad 
venturers,  a  brief  reference  to  them  collectively  seems  necessary; 
although  the  scope  of  the  present  volume  does  not  include  a  dis 
cussion  of  the  ethnic  relationship  of  the  various  native  races  of  the 
Atlantic  coast,  but  merely  an  illustration  of  how  far  their  ingenuity 
had  expressed  itself  in  utilizing  stone  to  supply  their  several  wants. 
These  so-called  Indians,  which  have  figured  so  largely,  in  the  earlier 
historic  times,  as  well  as  filled  a  large  place  in  the  prehistoric  annals 
of  America,  are  known  to  ethnologists  as  the  Algonkins  and  Iroquois. 


2  Memoirs  of  the  Museum  of  Comp.  Zoology,  Vol.  VI  (ist  Part):  The  Auriferous  Gravels  of 
the  Sierra  Nevada  of  California.  By  J.  D.  Whitney,  Cambridge,  Mass.,  1879.  (Chapter  III,  Sec. 
V,  Human  Remains  and  Works  of  Art  in  the  Gravel  Series,  p.  287.) 


4  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

These  are3  "peoples  of  wholly  diverse  descent  and  language,  who,  at 
the  time  of  the  discovery,  were  the  sole  possessors  of  the  region  now 
embraced  by  Canada  and  the  eastern  United  States  north  of  the 
thirty-fifth  parallel.  The  latter  *  *  *  *  occupied  much  of  the  soil 
from  the  St.  Lawrence  and  Lake  Ontario  to  the  Roanoke.  *  *  *  * 
They  were  a  race  of  warriors,  courageous,  cruel,  unimaginative,  but 
of  rare  political  sagacity.  They  are  more  like  ancient  Romans  than 
Indians,  and  are  leading  figures  in  the  colonial  wars. 

The  Algonkins  surrounded  them  on  every  side,  occupying  the  rest 
of  the  region  mentioned,  and  running  westward  to  the  base  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  where  one  of  their  famous  bands,  the  Blackfeet,  still 
hunts  over  the  valley  of  the  Saskatchewan.  They  were  more  genial 
than  the  Iroquois,  of  milder  manners  and  more  vivid  fancy,  and  were 
regarded  by  these  with  a  curious  mixture  of  respect  and  contempt. 
Some  writer  has  connected  this  difference  with  their  preference  for 
the  open  prairie  country  in  contrast  to  the  endless  and  sombre 
forests  where  were  the  homes  of  the  Iroquois.  Their  history  abounds 
in  great  men,  whose  ambitious  plans  were  foiled  by  the  levity  of  their 
allies  and  their  want  of  persistence.  They  it  was  who  under  King 
Philip  fought  the  Puritan  fathers ;  who  at  the  instigation  of  Pontiac 
doomed  to  death  every  white  trespasser  on  their  soil ;  who,  led  by 
Tecumseh  and  Black  Hawk,  gathered  the  clans  of  the  forest  and 
mountain  for  the  last  pitched  battle  of  the  races  in  the  Mississippi 
valley.  To  them  belong  the  mild  mannered  Lenni-Lenape,  who  little 
foreboded  the  hand  of  iron  that  grasped  their  own  so  softly  under  the 
elm-tree  of  Shackamaxon ;  to  them  the  restless  Shawnee,  the  gypsy 
of  the  wilderness ;  the  Chippeways  of  Lake  Superior,  and  also  to 
them  the  Indian  girl  Pocahontas,  who  in  the  legend  averted  from  the 
head  of  the  white  man  the  blow,  which,  rebounding,  swept  away  her 
father  and  all  his  tribe." 

3  Brinton.     Myths  of  the  New  World,  2nd  ed.  p.  26.     New  York,  1876. 


CHAPTER    II. 


GROOVED  STONE  AXES. 


JUDGING  from  a  series  of  over  two  hundred  examples  of  grooved 
axes  gathered  from  nearly  every  county  of  the  state  of  New  Jersey, 
and  the  full  series  of  axes  from  New  England,  in  the  Peabody  Mu 
seum  of  Archaeology  and  Ethnology  at  Cambridge,  it  is  evident  that 
no  one  pattern  of  this  form  of  stone  implement  is  peculiar  to  any 
neighborhood,  and  no  form  occurs  in  the  south  or  west,  in  any  way 
differing  from  those  occurring  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard. 

The  material  of  which  they  are  made  varies  almost  as  much  as 
does  that  of  the  arrowheads,  although  it  is  rarely  that  we  meet  with 
axes  either  of  quartz  or  jasper,  yet  such  are  not  wholly  wanting.  In 
most  cases,  a  close-grained,  heavy  mineral,  susceptible  of  polish  was 
chosen,  although  the  grinding  of  any  part  of  the  surface,  except  at  the 
edge,  was  mostly  omitted. 

In  glancing  over  any  considerable  series  of  axes,  we  find  the  same 
variation  in  the  degree  of  finish,  that  we  see  in  every  form  of  weapon 
or  domestic  implement ;  but  perhaps  the  most  noticeable  difference 
is  in  the  size.  Many  of  these  axes  appear  to  be  too  large  to  be 
readily  wielded  for  any  purpose ;  while  the  smallest  doubtlessly  were 
toys. 

As  so  large  a  number  of  these  implements  have  had  their  shape 
determined  by  the  contour  of  the  pebbles  from  which  they  were 
fashioned,  it  is  difficult  to  determine  what  is  to  be  considered  a  typi 
cal  axe,  if  indeed,  there  is  one.  The  use  of  a  water-worn  pebble 
as  a  hammer,  simply  held  in  the  hand,  was  among  the  first  acts 
of  primitive  man,  and  it  was  not  long  before  the  advantage  of 

GO 


O  PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 

a  handle  to  such  a  stone  was  recognized.  Once  hafted  and  in  use, 
either  as  a  hammer  or  a  weapon,  if  the  ends  at  all  differed  in  sharp 
ness  of  point  or  thinness  of  edge,  the  desirability  of  increasing  the 
effectiveness  of  these  features  would  quickly  suggest  itself.  In  this 
way  we  can  see  how  readily  a  water-worn  pebble  would  be  converted 
into  what  we  have  here  designated  as  an  axe,  and  see  also,  how  in 
definite  must  have  been  the  shapes  of  those  first  in  use. 

If  we  endeavor  to  trace  any  development  of  the  more  specialized 
forms  of  stone  implements,  it  will  prove  a  puzzling  problem  to  con 
nect  the  pecked  and  polished  grooved  stone  axes  of  neolithic  times, 
with  the  chipped  implements  of  the  river  drift.  No  two  forms  could 
be  more  dissimilar,  yet  the  hatchet  of  the  one  period  and  axe  of  the 
other  are  supposed  to  have  had  similar  uses.  For  use  as  a  cutting 
implement,  one  might  well  hesitate  between  the  two  forms,  for  rude  as 
the  better  made  chipped  implements  of  the  drift  appear  to  be,  they 
are  quite  as  available  for  most  of  the  purposes  for  which  the  grooved 
stone  axe  was  designed.  The  people  that  used  the  one  certainly  never 
developed  them  into  the  other ;  nor,  would  the  chipped  hatchets  of 
the  better  class  always  be  discarded  for  the  axe.  It  is,  in  truth, 
inconceivable  that  these  latter  should  be  the  production  of  the  same 
people,  who  used  the  chipped  implements  ;  and  if  they  originated 
among  the  descendants  of  the  palaeolithic  folks  of  the  same  river 
valleys,  they  are  of  quite  recent  times  comparatively,  and  came 
gradually  into  use,  as  a  specialized  implement,  intended  for  but  few 
purposes,  just  as,  at  an  apparently  later  date,  we  find  the  gouge, 
hoe  and  celt.  There  is  no  relationship  to  be  traced  between  the  two 
forms,  or  evidence  that  the  makers  of  the  one  were  at  all  related  to 
the  inventors  of  the  other. 

In  examining  any  large  series  of  grooved  stone  axes,  the  fact  that 
the  shape  was  of  less  importance  than  some  other  of  its  features  be 
comes  very  evident.  Occasionally,  we  meet  with  an  axe  that  has  no 
trace  of  work  upon  it,  other  than  the  groove ;  the  edge  being  a  nat 
ural  feature  of  the  pebble;  others  again  have  only  some  slight  in- 


STONE   AXES.  7 

equality  pecked  away ;  and  from  such  an  one,  we  have  a  regular 
gradation  in  degree  of  alteration  of  the  original  surface,  to  such  as  are 
wholly  artificial  in  shape,  of  perfect  symmetry,  and  exquisite  polish. 

Of  those  that  are  shaped  without  reference  to  the  previous  size  or 
shape  of  the  selected  stone,  there  is  not  a  very  extended  range  of 
patterns.  Apparently,  every  Indian  being  his  own  axe-maker,  if  not 
content  with  the  simpler  form  of  a  slightly  modified  pebble,  fashioned 
de  novo  such  an  implement  as  pleased  him,  and  whether  the  edge  was 
very  broad  and  the  axe  short,  or  just  the  reverse,  was  a  mere  whim  of 
the  maker.  One  feature,  in  this  respect,  may  be  held  as  true,  that  the 
depth  of  the  groove,  symmetry  of  the  blade,  and  degree  of  polish, 
are  all  more  marked  in  those  specimens  that  are  wholly  of  artificial 
design,  and  have  been  shaped  from  a  mass  of  stone  that  originally 
bore  no  resemblance  to  the  finished  implement. 

The  maximum  size  of  stone  axes  may  be  stated  to  be  twelve  inches 
in  length,  and  six  to  eight  inches  in  width.  Those  of  this  maximum 
length  are  very  rare,  while  those  measuring  one-half,  and  two-thirds  of 
that  size,  are  extremely  common.  The  weight,  of  course,  varies  with 
the  size  and  the  density  of  the  mineral  used.  Some  axes,  of  diorite, 
or  of  porphyry  of  small  size,  are  as  heavy  as  others  that  are  much 
larger,  of  sandstone.  The  smallest  axe  I  have  ever  found  or  seen, 
from  New  Jersey,  measures  but  two  and  three-fourths  inches  in  length. 
It  is  well  shaped,  has  the  groove  extending  entirely  around  it,  and  has 
had  an  excellent  edge.  As  the  surface  is  now  so  weathered,  and  as 
the  mineral  is  not  very  compact,  it  is  impossible  to  determine  whether 
it  has  been  polished  or  not. 

The  most  noticeable  feature  of  grooved  stone  axes  is  the  groove 
that  either  partially  or  wholly  encircles  the  implement.  While  in  many 
cases,  it  is  merely  a  shallow  depression  roughly  pecked  away,  in  others 
it  is  very  deep  and  occasionally  highly  polished  ;  but  why  it  should  be 
so,  considering  the  one  object  of  the  groove,  it  is  difficult  to  conject 
ure.  Certainly  the  material  of  which  the  handle  was  made,  whether 
hide  or  wood,  would  not  polish  it,  even  if  it  were  wrapped  tightly 
about  the  axe,  as  was  necessary,  in  order  to  secure  it  effectively.  As 


8  PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 

I  have  already  mentioned,  this  groove  is  occasionally  protected  by 
prominent  ridges  on  each  side,  which  also  deepen  it  considerably. 
The  position  of  the  groove  varies  from  very  near  the  centre  of  the 
axe  to  a  point  so  near  the  head,  that  but  a  narrow  rim  protects  it. 
On  measuring  nearly  one  thousand  examples,  I  find  that  the  groove  in 
mpst  cases  is  about  one-third  of  the  total  length  distant  from  the 
head,  and  is  at  right  angles  to  the  upper  margin  of  the  implement. 
In  many  specimens,  where  the  groove  is  quite  in  the  middle  of  the 
axe,  it  is  evident  that  the  blade  has  been  repeatedly  shortened  by 
grinding  the  edge  anew,  and  so,  in  some  instances,  fully  one-third  of 
the  implement  has  been  worn  away.  In  the  valley  of  the  Susque- 
hanna  river,  in  Pennsylvania,  the  majority  of  the  grooved  axes  have 
had  an  oblique  direction  given  to  the  groove,  which  of  course  would 
alter  the  position  of  the  handle,  from  that  of  right  angles  to  the  axe. 
What  object  there  was  in  this  peculiarity,  it  is  difficult  to  determine. 
This  pattern  is  not  unknown,  but  is  very  rarely  met  with  in  the  valley 
of  the  Delaware  river,  or  elsewhere  in  New  Jersey.  They  are  of 
more  frequent  occurrence  in  New  York,  but  probably  do  not  occur  in 
New  England.  There  is  no  example  of  this  pattern  in  the  large  series 
of  New  England  axes  in  the  Museum  at  Cambridge. 

A  large  proportion,  possibly  two-thirds  of  the  stone  axes  found  in 
New  Jersey,  have  the  groove  extending  along  the  sides  and  across  one 
margin  ;  the  opposite  margin,  in  these  cases,  being  flat  or  slightly  con 
cave.  This  same  pattern  is  common  also  to  New  England,  but  not  to 
such  an  extent ;  one-half,  probably,  of  the  axes  found  in  Connecticut 
and  northward  having  the  groove  entirely  encircling  the  stone. 

As  the  implements  under  consideration  are  called  "axes,"  it  is  nat 
ural  to  infer  that  the  edge,  which  in  many  specimens  is  quite  sharp, 
should  be  adapted  to  cutting.  If  not,  the  term  axe  is  a  misnomer. 
It  is  generally  conceded  that,  with  these  implements,  standing  timber 
could  not  be  cut.  This  is  not  true  of  all  axes,  however,  and  one  of 
unusually  sharp  edge  was  found,  by  experiment,  sufficiently  sharp 
to  enable  me  to  cut  —  not  bruise  —  a  small  tree,  by  bringing  the  edge 
in  contact  with  the  tree,  at  an  angle,  say  of  forty-five  degrees.  But  the 


STONE   AXES.  9 

labor  was  such  as  would  have  disheartened  an  Indian,  and  the  task 
could  scarcely  be  successfully  repeated  on  trees  of  larger  girth.  No 
stone  axe,  that  I  have  ever  seen,  would  be  available  for  felling  trees  of 
even  a  foot  in  diameter  in  a  reasonable  length  of  time. 

There  is  such  a  difference  in  the  finish  of  the  edge  of  any  ordinary 
series  of  these  axes,  that  it  is  probable  this  feature,  in  connection 
with  the  size,  determined  the  particular  use  of  each ;  and  there  was 
that  range  in  use,  as  is  apparent  in  the  case  of  celts  which,  varying  in 
length  from  fifteen  inches  to  one  inch,  could  not  have  been  intended 
for  one  and  the  same  purpose. 

The  thickness  of  the  blade  varies  to  a  considerable  degree,  and 
many  of  the  broadest  examples  are  quite  short.  The  slope  to  the 
edge  in  such  cases  is  very  pronounced,  and  however  sharp  the  edge 
may  be,  its  cutting  power  is  necessarily  much  reduced.  Such  short 
and  thick  axes  were  even  better  weapons  than  those  that  are  thinner. 

From  the  great  number  of  stone  axes  already  gathered,  and  that 
remain  to  be  gathered  from  the  area  of  the  state  of  New  Jersey,  it  is 
clear  that  this  form  of  weapon  or  implement,  as  the  case  may  be,  was 
in  constant  and  universal  use  among  the  Delaware  Indians.  In  some 
localities,  of  several  square  miles  in  extent,  there  have  been  found  from 
three  to  five  axes  in  every  one  hundred  acres,  and  still  others  are 
occasionally  brought  to  light  by  the  plough.  Allowing  but  one-half  the 
smaller  number  to  have  been  left  lying  in  every  one  hundred  acres  of 
the  state's  area,  when  abandoned  by  the  Indians,  there  would  remain, 
for  the  benefit  of  archaeologists,  the  enormous  number  of  one  hundred 
and  twenty-five  thousand  stone  axes.  If  these  axes  are  as  abundant 
elsewhere,  as  they  are  in  Mercer  and  Burlington  counties,  New  Jersey, 
it  is  quite  within  reason  to  believe  that  one-half  that  number  were  left 
by  the  resident  Indians,  when  they  relinquished  their  territory  to  the 
founder  of  Philadelphia. 

However  incorrect  the  above  estimate  of  the  abundance  of  axes  in 
New  Jersey  may  be,  it  is  certain  that  there  have  been  many  hundreds 
gathered  in  the  past,  without  any  apparent  diminution  of  their  num 
bers.  Yearly  the  plough  upturns  as  many  as  in  previous  years,  and  the 


10  PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 

thoughtful  observer,  who  chances  to  seek  for  these  scattered  relics,  is 
amazed  at  their  frequent  occurrence. 

Supposing  that  these  grooved  axes,  except  such  small  examples  as 
were  probably  toys,  were  only  used  and  owned  by  men,  does  this 
great  abundance  of  them  indicate  a  larger  population,  than  is  gen 
erally  supposed  existed  at  any  one  time,  or  may  we  take  it  as  indic 
ative  of  a  smaller  community,  whose  occupancy  extended  over  an 
immense  lapse  of  time  ?  So  far  as  axes  not  in  use,  or  those  deposited 
in  graves  affect  their  numbers,  it  may  be  remarked,  that  we  find  that 
several  early  authors  mention  the  fact  of  the  handing  down  from 
father  to  son,  of  the  cherished  stone  axe,  to  fashion  which,  "the  life 
of  a  savage  is  often  insufficient."4  This  shows  that  the  custom  of 
depositing  them  in  graves  was  only  occasional ;  and  therefore,  it  may 
be  considered,  that  such  setting  aside  of  a  certain  number  would  not 
materially  affect  any  calculations  based  upon  their  numbers,  as  now 
found  scattered  broadcast  over  the  entire  area  of  the  state. 

In  New  England,  grooved  stone  axes  are  by  no  means  abundant. 
They  are  a  well  known  form  and  a  dozen  or  more  may  be  collected  in 
the  course  of  a  summer's  work,  but  in  no  portion  of  this  extended 
area,  do  they  appear  to  have  been  in  such  common  use,  as  in  the  more 
southern  states.  Prof.  George  H.  Perkins5,  in  treating  of  the  archae 
ology  of  the  Champlain  valley,  remarks  that  "  grooved  axes  are  not 
common,  though  some  very  fine  specimens  have  been  found,  but  I 
have  seen  none  that  would  compare  favorably  with  the  finest  western 
specimens  either  in  size  or  elegance  of  form.  The  largest  I  have 
seen  is  nine  inches  long  and  four  and  one-half  inches  wide,  but  most 
of  the  grooved  axes  are  much  smaller.  Such  specimens  of  axes  as 
have  been  collected  have  been  obtained,  one  here  and  one  there, 
singly ;  nowhere  in  such  groups  as  some  collectors  describe.  I  pre 
sume  that  all  the  grooved  axes  ever  found  in  the  Champlain  valley, 
unless  many  were  destroyed  before  collectors  began  to  save  them, 


4  Moeurs  des  Suavages  Ameriq.,  Vol.  I,  p.  no,  Paris.  1724.     Quoted  by  C.  C.  Jones,  jr. 
6  American  Naturalist,  Vol.  XIII,  No.  12,  p.  738,  1879. 


STONE   AXES.  I  I 

would  not  amount  to  so  large  a  number  as  Dr.  Abbott  mentions  from 
a  single  small  excavation  made  in  digging  a  cellar  in  Trenton,  N.  J." 

In  Massachusetts,  there  is  a  greater  abundance  of  these  implements, 
than  would  appear  to  be  the  case  in  western  Vermont,  as  is  shown  by 
the  large  series  in  the  Museum  at  Cambridge,  and  in  the  collection  of 
the  Peabody  Academy  of  Science,  in  Salem,  Mass. ;  but  while  rela 
tively  more  abundant  in  eastern  Massachusetts,  than  in  the  Champlain 
valley,  they  are  scarce  as  compared  with  the  numbers  found  in  New 
York  and  New  Jersey.  Nor  is  this  abundance  at  all  confined  to  the 
middle  states.  Southward  of  Pennsylvania,  they  are  abundant ;  and 
along  the  greater  part,  if  not  the  entire  extent,  of  the  Atlantic  sea 
board,  the  statement  that  in  Georgia  they  "  are  frequently  met  with  in 
the  sepulchred  tumuli,  upon  the  sites  of  old  villages,  in  relic-beds, 
and  in  cultivated  fields,"6  is  equally  applicable. 

As  found  in  New  England,  axes  are  essentially  a  "surface"  find,  no 
reference  to  them  being  made  by  any  of  the  archaeologists  who  have 
so  carefully  examined  the  graves  of  the  Indians  of  Massachusetts. 
Celts  and  ornaments,  as  will  be  mentioned  in  a  subsequent  chapter,  are 
frequently  found,  but  never  the  grooved  axe.  In  New  Jersey,  a  small 
proportion  of  the  graves  of  Indians  contain,  among  other  patterns  of 
stone  implements,  a  small  grooved  axe,  such  as,  from  the  size  and 
finish,  may  be  considered  the  prototype  of  the  more  modern  iron 
tomahawk.  It  is  doubtful  if  the  largest  of  these  implements  were  used 
as  weapons,  as  they  do  not  appear  ever  to  have  been  placed  among 
the  "treasures  "  of  any  warrior,  who  was  fortunate  enough  to  secure  a 
careful  burial  at  the  hands  of  his  friends. 

Fig.  i  is  a  very  good  example  of  the  most  common  type  of 
grooved  stone  axes.  This  specimen  measures  eleven  and  one-half 
inches  in  total  length,  and  is  but  four  inches  wide  at  the  broadest 
portion,  the  ridge  immediately  in  front  of  the  groove.  The  groove 
itself  is  but  seven-eighths  of  an  inch  in  width,  and  the  head,  or  that 
portion  posterior  to  the  groove,  varies  from  one  and  one-half  inches 

6  Antiquities  of  Southern  Indians,  p.  274.     New  York,  1873. 


12 


PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 


to  one  inch  in  length.     The  cutting-edge  is  but  two  and  one-fourth 

inches  in  extent,  and  is  still 
moderately  sharp  and  well 
preserved.      Although    the 
specimen    still    shows    the 
marks  of  the  hammer,  yet 
it  might  also  be  placed  un 
der   the   head   of   polished 
axes,    as    the    weapon    has 
been  so  carefully  smoothed 
down   that   the    slight   ine 
qualities  and  shallow  inden 
tations  can  scarcely  be  felt 
by  the  hand.     Its  weight  is 
seven  and  one-half  pounds. 
With    the     handle    placed 
where  the  groove  is,  it  must 
have  produced  a  great  strain 
upon  the  wrist.    Axes,  with 
the  groove  so  far  removed 
from  the  middle  of  the  im 
plement,  as  in  this  instance, 
are    not    often    met    with, 
except    such   as   are    more 
nearly  of  equal  length  and 
breadth. 

It  is  remarked  by  Los- 
kiel,"  of  the  stone  axes 
of  the  Delaware  or  Lenni 
Lenape  Indians,  that  "they 
were  not  used  to  fell  trees, 
but  only  to  peel  them,  or 
FIG.  ,.-  New  jersey.  4.  to  kill  their  enemies."  Cer- 


7  Hist,  of  Mission  of  United  Brethren,  p.  54,  London,  1794. 


STONE   AXES.  13 

tainly  the  axe  before  us  might  have  been  used  for  either  purpose ; 
but  in  an  attempt  at  classification,  I  should  refer  the  smaller  speci 
mens  to  the  category  of  weapons  or  "tomahawks;"  to  which  class 
fig.  i,  judging  from  its  weight  and  size,  could  never  have  belonged. 
Few  Indians  of  to-day,  certainly,  would  care  to  place  this  axe 
among  their  side-arms,  or  be  compelled  to  use  it  in  a  hand-to-hand 
conflict. 

This  specimen  was  found  on  a  small  gravelly  island  in  the  Delaware 


FIG.  2.  —  New  Jersey. 


FIG.  3.  —  Nevr  Jersey,     -f. 


river,  and  was  presented  to  the  author  by  his  friend  Mr.  William  Dean, 
of  Lambertville,  N.  J. 

Fig.  2  represents  an  average  example  of  this  pattern  of  grooved 
axe,  which  is  found  in  greater  or  less  abundance  throughout  the  United 
States,  east  of  the  Mississippi  river.  Such  axes  generally  are  about 
seven  inches  in  length,  the  extremes  being  from  two  and  one-half 
inches  to  eleven  and  one-half,  as  in  the  preceding  illustration.  It  is 


14  PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 

very  seldom  that  one  is  found  that  measures  less  than  four  inches,  and 
but  few  are  seen  in  any  collections  so  small  as  the  minimum  here 
mentioned. 

When  of  such  diminutive  size,  these  objects  become  toys  rather 
than  weapons,  although  if  mounted  on  a  slender,  flexible  handle,  their 
value  as  a  weapon  would  not  be  inconsiderable.  Figs.  3  and  4 
represent  excellent  average  examples  of  the  smallest  size  of  grooved 
axes.  Whether  toys  or  weapons,  as  much  care  has  been  expended 

upon  them,  as  upon  the  largest, 
and  the  battering  to  which  the 
edge  of  No.  3  has  been  exposed 
shows  that,  if  a  toy,  the  play 
must  have  been  rough  and  very 
realistic,  that  so  completely  de 
molished  the  cutting  edge.  In  the 
smaller  of  the  two  specimens, 
fig.  4,  it  will  be  noticed  that  the 
edge,  which  is  still  preserved,  is 
very  smoothly  polished.  It  is  the 
more  probable  that  these  small 
axes  were  made  for  children's 
uses  as  we  find  not  only  all 
weapons  reproduced  in  minia- 

FIG.  4. New  Jersey     4~  i 

cles  as  mortars,  and  cooking  vessels.  The  same  is  true  of  the 
pottery;  especially  of  the  kind  found  in  such  great  abundance  in 
the  western  and  southwestern  states ;  where  besides  clay  images, — 
the  counterparts  of  modern  children's  dolls, —  miniature  vessels  of 
most  of  the  patterns  in  vogue  at  that  time  are  common. 

Fig.  5  is  an  admirable  example  of  an  axe  made  of  a  porphyry 
pebble  of  this  pattern,  worn  down  by  continual  resharpening.  The 
specimen  now  measures  four  inches  in  length  by  three  and  three- 
eighths  in  width,  and  is  two  and  one-half  inches  across  the  head  or 
back.  It  has  a  well-defined  groove  running  along  one  margin,  q 


STONE    AXES. 


feature  common  to  this  pattern  of  stone  axes.  Into  this  marginal 
groove  a  wedge  is  supposed  to  have  been  driven  in  order  to  tighten 
the  handle.  This  is  possibly  the  true  explanation. 

Several  specimens  of  axes  have  been  collected  quite  recently,  how 
ever,  which  have  this  marginal  groove  duplicated,  each  being  quite 
deep,  and  the  separating  ridge  as  high  as  the  exterior  edges  of  the 
grooves.  Were  the  object  cf  the  single  depression  the  insertion  of  a 
wedge,  as  suggested,  these  doubly  grooved  axes  would  need  two  such 
tightening  wedges,  which  is  not  probable.  If,  however,  the  end  of 
the  handle  was  placed  against  this  margin  of  the  axe,  and  so  notched 
a3  to  fit  closely  the  single  or 
double  groove,  as  the  case  might 
be,  then  the  binding  withe  or 
sinew  wrapped  about  the  imple 
ment  would  closely  adhere  to 
the  transverse  groove  at  every 
part,  and  need  no  wedges  to 
secure  the  attachment  of  the  axe 
firmly  to  its  handle. 

In  many  axes  of  this  pattern 
the  groove  is  but  very  slightly 
defined,  and  in  none  from  the 
Atlantic  seaboard  is  it  so  deeply 
cut,  as  in  a  number  of  those  found 
west  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains. 

Fig.  5  is  of  especial  interest  as  showing  how  carefully  preserved 
were  these  stone  axes,  whether  used  as  weapons  or  merely  cutting  tools. 
So  long  as  any  blade  was  left  to  be  sharpened,  it  was  utilized.  This  is 
more  marked  in  the  above  than  in  any  other  axe  in  the  collection  of 
the  Museum  at  Cambridge. 

This  variety  of  axe  is  usually  of  sandstone,  and  the  ordinary  cobble 
stones,  or  water-worn  pebbles  of  the  adjacent  river-beds.  At  and 
above  Trenton,  N.  J.,  the  bed  of  the  Delaware  river  is  wholly  com 
posed  of  loose  stones  of  various  sizes,  with  here  and  there  an  out- 


FiG.  5.  —  New  Jersey.     \. 


1 6  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

cropping  of  rock.  These  loose  pebbles  are  frequently  found  on  ex 
amination  to  bear  considerable  general  resemblance  to  finished  axes, 
and  to  need  little  work  upon  them  other  than  making  the  groove  and 
rubbing  one  end  down  until  a  cutting-edge  is  produced.  So  abundant 
are  the  well-adapted  stones,  in  shape  and  size,  that  we  wonder  why 
so  frequently  one  meets  with  stone  axes  that  have  been  carefully  pecked 
over  the  whole  surface  to  bring  them  down  to  the  proper  shape.  This 
may  be  explained,  perhaps,  by  the  suggestion  that  many  axes  were  made 
where  suitable  stones  were  difficult  to  obtain,  and  that  the  frequent  wars 
or  wanderings  of  a  community  and  bartering  may  have  resulted  in  the 
commingling  of  the  axes  of  a  multitude  of  localities,  many  of  them 
miles  distant  from  each  other.  It  is  known,  too,  that  tribes  came  from 
long  distances  to  make  autumnal  visits  to  our  seacoast,  and,  of  course, 
on  such  journeys  they  would  always  be  provided  with,  and  frequently 
lose,  as  they  passed  through  the  state,  many  specimens  of  both  weapons 
and  domestic  implements. 

The  routes  taken  by  the  Indians  who  annually  crossed  New  Jersey, 
from  their  homes  in  the  mountains  of  Pennsylvania,  on  their  autumnal 
visit  to  the  seacoast,  were  well  known  to  the  early  surveyors  of  the 
state ;  and  several  of  the  principal  thoroughfares,  extending  from 
the  Delaware  river  eastward,  are  the  sites  of  those  trails  over  which  the 
Indians  had  been  accustomed  to  pass,  for  unknown  centuries. 

It  is  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  these  trails  that  we  still  find  a 
great  number  of  the  various  patterns  of  stone  implements  and  frag 
ments  of  pottery,  which  are  largely  the  traces  of  those  inland  com 
munities  which  passed  yearly,  by  the  same  path,  to  their  chosen 
locality  on  the  coast.  Year  after  year,  they  camped  at  the  same  spot, 
while  en  route,  and  left  imperishable  traces  of  their  sojourn  by  the 
sea,  in  the  well-known  Indian  shell-heaps. 

It  has  been  thought  by  many,  and  confidently  asserted  by  a  few, 
that  this  particular  form  of  stone  axe  was  peculiarly  a  moundbuilder's 
weapon  or  implement.  Certainly  many  of  the  finest  examples  of  this 
form  have  been  picked  up  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  mounds ; 
though  it  is  well  known  that  axes  of  any  description  have  been  but 


STONE   AXES.  Ty 

rarely  found  in  the  mounds ;  moreover  those  of  the  maximum  size 
and  highest  finish  are  not  confined  to  the  vicinities  of  mounds. 

A  very  fine  specimen  of  a  large  axe  is  in  the  cabinet  of  Rutgers 
College  Museum,  at  New  Brunswick,  N.  J.  It  was  found  within  the 
limits  of  that  town,  on  the  banks  of  the  Raritan  river,  which  was 
probably  a  favorite  locality  with  the  aborigines,  on  account  of  the  na 
tive  copper  that  was  formerly  found  there,  and  which  they  highly  prized 
for  a  variety  of  purposes,  especially  ornamental.  The  axe  above  re 
ferred  to  is  of  identical  pattern  with  that  figured  by  Squier  and  Davis 
in  Smithsonian  Contributions,  vol.  i,  p.  216,  fig.  108  (Anc.  Mon. 
Miss.  Valley),  but  is  somewhat  larger  and  heavier.  The  former  meas 
ures  nine  inches  in  length  by  six  inches  in  width,  and  weighs  an  ounce 
or  two  over  nine  pounds.  The  western  specimen  "  is  made  of  very 
compact  greenstone,  and  measures  eight  inches  in  length  by  five 
inches  and  a  half  in  its  greatest  breadth,  and  weighs  eight  pounds." 
Squier  and  Davis  further  state  that  this  "  is  regarded  as  a  genuine  relic 
of  the  moundbuilders.  Its  form  is  almost  identical  with  that  of  the 
forest-axe  of  the  present  day."  The  result  of  investigations  up  to  the 
present  time,  in  and  about  these  same  mounds,  renders  it  almost  cer 
tain,  that  the  above  mentioned  axe  was  itself  a  "  forest-axe." 

Fig.  6  represents  one  of  the  finest  specimens  of  a  large  stone  axe 
that  we  have  ever  met  with.  Very  many  that  we  have  seen  have  been 
as  large  ;  a  number  have  been  of  more  finished  workmanship,  but  no 
one  has  as  many  features  of  interest  as  this.  This  specimen  measures 
eleven  inches  in  length.  The  conical  head  is  three  inches  long,  the 
groove  and  ridges  together  two  and  one-quarter  inches,  and  the  blade 
within  a  small  fraction  of  five  and  three-quarter  inches.  The  conical 
head  does  not  appear  to  have  met  with  any  very  hard  usage,  and  was 
probably  intended  for  ornament.  It  would  seem  as  though  the  ridges, 
at  each  margin  of  the  groove,  would  be  of  great  advantage  in  fasten 
ing  the  handle  to  the  axe,  inasmuch  as  it  secures  greater  depth  to  the 
groove  without  cutting  too  deeply  into  the  body  of  the  implement  it 
self;  but  such  plausible  reasoning  somewhat  vanishes  when  we  come 
to  compare  weights  and  find  that  this  specimen  (fig.  6)  weighs  but 


i8 


PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 


six  pounds,  whereas   fig.    i 


with  one  pound  and  a  half  greater 
weight,  has  a  groove 
only  one-half  the  depth 
and  width,  placed  as 
near  as  practicable  to 
one  end,  while  in  fig. 
6  it  approaches  more 
nearly  to  the  middle. 

Axes  of  this  pattern, 
having  both  the  pro 
jecting  and  protecting 
ridges  at  the  groove 
and  a  conical  head,  are 
common  within  limited 
localities  in  New  Jer 
sey.  Thus,  in  Glouces 
ter  county,  in  a  series 
of  one  hundred  speci 
mens,  about  twenty 
were  of  this  pattern. 
All  were  similar  to  the 
specimen  here  figured 
though  not  so  large, 
and  in  no  instance  was 
the  conical  head  so 
symmetrical. 

The  material  of  which 
this  axe  is  made  is 
very  compact  and  un 
yielding  ;  and  consider 
ing  the  amount  of  work 

FIG.  6.  — New  Jersey.     &.  UpQn     ^    one     can    well 

realize  that  much  time  was  consumed  ere  it  was  completed. 

Axes  of  this  form  do  not  appear  to  be  widely  distributed,  as  judged 


STONE   AXES. 


by  the  examination  of  large  series  from  various  states.  In  some  col 
lections,  there  was  but  a  single  example,  whilst  in  others,  nothing  at 
all  similar  to  it  was  seen. 

Fig.  6  was  found  on  the  shore  of  the  Delaware  river,  near  Tren 
ton,  N.  J.,  and  was  presented  to  the  writer  by  Dr.  J.  W.  Ward  of  that 
city. 

Fig.  7  represents  an  axe  of  somewhat  similar  outline  to  the  pre 
ceding,  having  the  ridges  that 
are  on  the  margin  of  the  groove 
very  well  defined,  but  the  taper 
ing,  conical  head  is  by  no 
means  as  artistically  finished 
as  in  the  former  instance.  As 
the  illustration  shows,  this 
specimen  has  been  pecked 
over  its  whole  surface,  and  is 
a  good  example  of  the  per 
severance  and  patience  of  the 
primitive  folk  who  accounted 
such  weapons  among  the  chief- 
est  of  their  worldly  goods. 
Axes  of  this  shape  and  pattern 
occur  in  many  parts  of  New 
Jersey,  but  are  less  common 
in  New  England.  No  better 


opportunity  for  contrasting  the 


FIG.  7.  —  New  Jersey.     3. 


rude  with  the  elaborate  specimens  of  a  similar  implement  is  furnished, 
than  by  a  study  of  this  axe  and  the  preceding.  In  the  specimen 
before  us,  we  have  the  same  high  protecting  ridges  to  the  groove,  as 
in  fig.  6,  but  without  a  trace  of  the  care  and  workmanship  there 
shown.  The  conical  head  is  symmetrical,  and  has  been  brought  by 
pecking  to  its  present  shape,  but  it  is  not  much  altered,  in  compari 
son  with  the  pointed  back  or  head  of  the  preceding  specimen. 

Much  has  been  said,  by  early  writers,  of  the  use  of  these  axes  as 


20 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 


wedges  for  splitting  wood ;  and  as  this  implies  the  use  of  a  maul  of 
some  sort,  there  is  an  apparent  explanation  of  the  frequent  fractures 
of  the  head  of  the  axes,  as  now  found.  Still,  it  is  doubtful  if  grooved 
axes  were  customarily  used  in  this  way,  as  the  labor  of  making  them 
was  far  too  great  to  warrant  their  being  subjected  to  blows  which  would 
very  quickly  destroy  them.  Certainly  axes  like  the  present  and  pre 
ceding  examples,  which  show  no  marks  of  violence,  could  not  have 
been  so  used. 

Fig.  8  represents  a  remarkably  fine  example  of  a  polished  grooved 

axe.  The  illustration  gives 
a  better  idea  of  the  spec 
imen  than  can  any  descrip 
tion.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that 
the  whole  surface  has  been 
beautifully  polished,  and  the 
edge,  still  perfect,  is  as 
sharp  as  it  can  be  made, 
and  describes  nearly  an  ac 
curate  arc  of  a  circle.  It 
will  be  noticed  that  this  axe 
has  two  grooves,  one  of 
them  shallower  and  much 
less  well  defined  than  the 
FIG.  8.— New  jersey,  j.  posterior  and  deeper  one. 

The  object  of  the  double  groove,  which  is  but  seldom  met  with  on 
the  Atlantic  seaboard,  is  by  no  means  clear.  No  similar  example  is 
found  in  either  of  the  large  New  England  collections  at  Cambridge, 
or  at  Salem,  Mass.,  nor  do  such  axes  occur  in  any  numbers,  appar 
ently,  except  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  where  fig.  8  was  found. 
Polished  axes  of  somewhat  similar  form,  but  without  such  a  well  defined 
cutting  edge,  are  met  with  in  New  Mexico.8  Specimens  have  been 
found  in  the  ancient  pueblos,  with  the  two  grooves,  very  well  defined. 


«U.  S.  Geog.  Survey  of  Territories,  west  of  tooth  merid.     Vol.  VII,  PI.  xvii,  xviii,  xix,  p.  377. 


STONE   AXES. 


21 


These  doubly  grooved  axes,  or  axe-shaped  implements  possess  sev 
eral  marked  peculiarities.  Some  of  those  described  in  the  volume 
referred  to,  "  seem  to  have  had  cutting  edges,  but  they  now  so  blunted 
that  they  appear  to  have  been  used  more  for  giving  blows  than  for  cut 
ting  purposes.  They  are  of  small  size  and  may  have  been  mounted 
for  use  as  implements  of  war,  similar  to  the  iron  tomahawk  of  a  later 
date.  *  *  *  Others  ought  rather  to  be  called  axe-shaped  hammers 
than  axes,  for  they  evidently 
never  were  furnished  with  any 
thing  approaching  a  cutting 
edge,  and  their  rounded  and 
fractured  ends  show  that  they 
have  long  been  used  as  ham 
mers.  *  *  *  These  pueblo 
axes  are  highly  polished." 

While  no  doubly-grooved 
axes  have  been  found  on  the 
Atlantic  coast  that  have  so 
completely  lost  their  cutting 
edges  as  have  those  described 
by  Professor  Putnam,  it  is  no 
uncommon  occurrence  to  meet 
with  ordinary  axes  that  have 
been  converted  into  hammers 
by  the  gradual  loss  of  their 
cutting  edges,  and  the  frac 
tured  surface  worn  to  a  com 
paratively  smooth  one  either  by  design  or  as  the  result  of  use  as  a 
hammer.  It  is  probable  that  most  of  the  grooved  hammers,  other 
than  those  cylindrical  in  shape,  were  originally  axes  of  the  ordinary 
patterns. 

Fig.  9  represents  a  fair  average  specimen  of  a  cobble-stone  axe, 
in  which  the  groove  extends  entirely  around  the  weapon.  One  fea 
ture  is  particularly  noticeable  in  these  axes,  viz.,  that  the  groove  is 


FIG.  9.  —  New  Jersey. 


22  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

more  nearly  in  the  middle  of  the  specimen.  I  have  examined  a 
large  series  of  axes,  and  find  that  the  following  characteristic  is  com 
mon  to  all  the  examples  that  have  come  under  my  notice,  viz.  :  that 
when  the  groove  extends  entirely  around  the  axe,  it  is  in  advance  of 
the  usual  position  of  the  grooves  that  do  not  meet  above,  or  on  the 
upper  margin,  as  in  fig.  i .  There  was  something  in  the  method  of 
using  these  implements  that  is  yet  to  be  learned,  before  an  expla 
nation  can  be  given  of  this  curious  feature  of  the  varying  position  of 
the  groove.  Certainly,  the  original  shape  of  the  selected  pebble  had 
nothing,  or  very  little,  to  do  with  determining  the  location.  This 
specimen  (fig.  9)  is  about  the  average  size  of  any  ordinary  collection 
of  these  stone  axes  as  gathered  from  any  one  neighborhood.  They 
range  from  four  to  eight  inches  in  length,  seldom  exceeding  this  limit ; 
and  the  number  of  instances  of  axes  less  than  four  inches  in  length 
is  comparatively  few.  As  a  class,  the  completely  grooved  axes  do  not 
appear  to  be  as  well  finished  as  the  preceding  style  ;  and  being  usually 
of  "crooked"  or  irregularly-shaped  stones,  when  a  number  are  to 
gether,  there  appears  to  be  but  little  in  common  except  such  features 
as  pronounce  them  all  "axes." 

Such  an  axe  as  fig.  9  is  the  simplest,  if  it  may  not  be  considered 
the  primitive  form  of  this  implement.  This  is  true,  if  the  minimum 
amount  of  labor  expended  upon  them  is  indicative  of  the  first  steps 
towards  the  production  of  such  an  axe,  as  the  one  immediately  pre 
ceding.  There  is  little,  however,  to  warrant  such  an  opinion  and  it 
would  rather  seem  that  if  axes  were  the  outgrowth  of  some  simpler 
form,  they  originated  beyond  our  boundaries.  It  has  occurred  to  the 
writer,  that  as  axes  were  made  not  by  professionals,  as  was  largely 
true  in  the  case  of  arrowheads,  but  by  each  man  for  himself,  they  are 
really  something  of  an  indication  of  the  great  individual  differences 
that  existed  among  the  Indians  ;  a  rude  axe  being  the  workmanship 
of  a  lazy  man,  and  a  symmetrical  one,  the  result  of  long,  patient 
labor  on  the  part  of  a  person  who  had  the  taste  to  design  and  the 
pluck  to  accomplish  what,  to  them,  was  a  serious  undertaking,  and 
involved,  as  we  have  seen,  a  great  expenditure  of  time. 


STONE   AXES.  23 

Fig.  10  represents  an  exceedingly  crude  axe,  that,  when  figured, 
was  the  very  "plainest"  specimen  I  had  ever  met  with.  Since 
then,  however,  others,  even  more  primitive,  and  yet  unquestionably 
"grooved  stone  axes,"  have  been  collected.  The  specimen  here 
figured  has  the.  groove  on  each  side  and  above  and  below  of  a  uni- 


FIG.  10.  —  New  Jersey.    |. 

form  depth,  and  is  well  defined  throughout,  as  the  illustration  indi 
cates  ;  but,  in  the  still  plainer  specimen,  the  groove  consists  of  a  faint 
roughening,  that  seems  of  little  use,  being  scarcely  uneven  enough  to 
prevent  the  fastening  from  slipping;  but,  like  fig.  10  the  groove  at 
the  top  and  bottom  is  practically  deepened  by  a  projecting  knob  of 


24  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

the  stone,  at  which  points  all  the  strain  of  the  fastening  of  the  handle 
must  have  come.  In  the  specimen  figured  (fig.  10),  the  sides  of 
the  blade  of  the  axe  have  been  dressed  down  with  a  hammer-stone 
to  a  pretty  well  defined  edge ;  but  in  the  still  plainer  specimen  before 
us  there  is  found  that  upon  one  side  a  few  chips  only  have  been  struck 
off,  and  on  the  other  two  great  portions  have  been  artistically  knocked 
away,  and  the  then  roughly-prepared  blade  has  been  rubbed  with  a 
polishing-stone  until  a  small  but  highly-polished  edge  has  been  pro 
duced.  I  cannot  imagine  any  more  difficult  task  than  really  cutting 
or  splitting  wood  with  such  a  weapon  as  this,  and  would,  therefore, 
restrict  its  use  to  bruising  the  bark  of  trees.  Judging  from  their  pres 
ent  appearances,  the  edges  only  of  these  axes  have  been  used ;  the 
back,  which  is  very  uneven  in  each  case,  does  not  show  any  trace  of 
having  ever  been  struck  with  a  hammer ;  and  I  find  in  many  of  the 
axes,  especially  in  the  pattern  of  figure  i ,  that  they  were  so  struck, 
thus  converting  the  axe  for  a  time  into  a  wedge.  Loskiel9  says  : 
"  Their  hatchets  were  wedges,  made  of  hard  stones,  six  or  eight  inches 
long,  sharpened  at  the  end  and  fastened  to  a  wooden  handle." 

Occasionally  we  meet  with  crooked  or  bent  axes,  which  have,  how 
ever,  more  method  in  their  irregularities  than  has  fig.  10.  Several  such 
specimens  have  been  collected  in  New  Jersey,  which  were  originally 
nothing  but  ordinary  cobble-stones  slightly  bent  or  bow-shaped. 
Stones  of  this  shape  were  frequently  chosen,  as  I  have  seen  a  number 
of  specimens  from  widely  distant  localities.  The  best  illustration  of 
such  bent  axes  is  one  measuring  nine  inches  in  length  by  three  and 
one-half  inches  in  width.  The  head  alone  is  the  natural  surface  of 
the  stone,  except  a  narrow  strip  immediately  in  front  of  the  groove  ; 
all  the  rest  has  been  carefully  worked  but  never  polished.  These 
so-called  bent  axes  are  attractive  in  appearance,  but  do  not  seem  to 
possess  any  especial  advantage  over  other  forms. 

Fig.  ii  represents  an  irregularly  shaped  cobble-stone  with  three 
uncommon  features  :  the  near  approach  of  the  groove  to  the  middle 

'  Mission  among  N.  A.  Indians  (Delawares),  page  54. 


STONE    AXES. 


of  the  specimen  ;  the  almost  flat  surface  or  one  side  of  the  imple 
ment  ;  and  the  intended  double  edge.  It  may  be  that  the  shorter 
end  has  had  a  cutting-edge,  although  there  is  now  no  trace  of  it  left, 
or  the  broken  condition  of  this  end  may  be  the  preparatory  chipping, 
to  have  it  ready  for  grinding  to  a  cutting-edge  at  any  time  it  might  be 
desirable  to  do  so.  This  specimen  measures  six  inches  in  length  by 
two  and  one-half  inches  in  breadth,  except  at  the  projection  imme 
diately  in  front  of  the  groove  on 
the  upper  margin,  which  projection 
is  about  one-half  an  inch  in  length. 
What  might  be  the  object  in  hav 
ing  one  side  flat,  or  nearly  so,  does 
not  appear ;  but  it  will  be  seen 
that  this  peculiarity  is  not  confined 
to  this  axe,  or  to  a  few  axes  as  a 
class  by  themselves,  but  occurs  in 
weapons  and  implements  of  very 
different  character. 

If  the  specimen  here  considered 
is,  or  was,  a  double-edged  axe,  it 
is  the  only  example,  so  far  met 
with.  In  describing  axes  found  in 
the  southern  states,  Col.  C.  C. 
Jones10  remarks,  that  while  "in 
most  cases  the  groove  is  near  the 
head  of  the  axe  ;  occasionally  this 
transverse  furrow  runs  across  the  central  portion,  thus  affording  an  op 
portunity  for  a  double  edge.  Specimens  of  this  latter  variety,  so  far  as 
our  observation  extends,  are  carelessly  made,  and  of  soft  material. 
They  could  have  been  used  for  little  else  than  offensive  purposes." 

The  above  does  not  apply  to  the  axes  found  either  in  New  England 
or  the  middle  states.     Properly  speaking  there  are  no  double-edged  axes 


FIG.  ir.  —  New  Jersey.     5. 


10  Antiquities  of  Southern  Indians,  p.  276,  New  York,  1873. 


26 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 


in  tne  Museum  at  Cambridge,  or  elsewhere  in  the  United  States,  so  far 
as  I  have  seen,  and  the  impression  among  many  people,  that  such  are 
occasionally  found,  arises  from  the  habit  of  applying  the  term  "axe" 
to  the  small  ceremonial  objects  which,  whatever  their  significance, 
were  certainly  never  used  as  weapons,  or  implements  of  any  kind. 
Mention  has  already  been  made  of  grooved  axes  with  the  furrow 

extending  obliquely  a- 
cross  the  implement. 
Such  axes  are  character 
istic  of,  but  not  peculiar 
to,  the  valley  of  the 
Susquehanna  river,  Pa. 
In  a  great  majority  of 
these  the  groove  does 
not  encircle  the  axe. 
A  few  specimens  have 
been  noticed  that  were 
simply  water-worn  peb 
bles,  such  as  fig.  9.  An 
estimate  based  upon  the 
examination  of  several 
hundred  specimens  from 
that  valley,  and  which 
tallied  with  the  infor 
mation  received  from 
correspondents,  who  had 
FIG.  12.  — Pennsylvania.  £.  collectedat  different 

and  widely  separated  points,  leads  me  to  infer  that  in  about  sixty  per 
cent,  of  the  axes  found  there  the  groove  was  oblique.  In  New  Jersey, 
not  more  than  three  per  cent,  are  of  this  pattern. 

Of  the  stone  implements  generally,  as  gathered  in  the  valleys  of 
the  Delaware  and  the  Susquehanna,  there  is  little  to  be  said  of  the 
one  series  that  does  apply  to  the  other.  The  same  people  were  at 
the  same  time  the  sole  occupants  of  the  two  localities,  and  it  is  a 


STONE   AXES. 


fact  of  peculiar  interest  that  so  marked  a  difference  should  occur,  in 
so  prominent  an  implement  of  daily  use,  as  the  grooved  axe.  It  is 
in  vain  to  attempt  to  offer  any  reason  for  the  difference.  The  bare 
fact  is  all  that  we  can  ever  know,  and  we  are  only  left  to  wonder  why 
the  oblique  groove, 
apparently  much  less 
desirable  for  every 
purpose,  should  have 
been  preferred  by  a 
people  to  whom  the 
straight  and  more 
desirable  method 
must  have  been  fa 
miliar. 

Fig.  12  represents 
an  average  example 
of  this  pattern,  and 
well  exhibits  the  pe 
culiarity  of  the  ob 
lique  groove,  referred 
to  in  the  preceding 
paragraphs.  It  is 
common  to  the  axes 
found  in  the  Susque- 
hanna  valley,  whether 
of  the  largest  or  small 
est  size,  and  thus,  of 
itself,  is  not  indicative 
of  any  particular  purpose,  as  might  reasonably  be  supposed,  if  it  were 
limited  to  axes  of  a  certain  size. 

In  any  considerable  series  of  axes  from  the  New  England  states, 
there  will  be  found  a  certain  proportion  with  the  groove  running  in  a 
more  or  less  oblique  direction,  but  very  seldom  is  it  so  pronounced, 
as  in  fig.  12. 


FIG.  13.  —  New  Jersey. 


28 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 


A  modification  of  the  grooved  axe  is  to  be  seen  in  that  pattern  where 
the  groove  is  reduced  to  a  deep  marginal  notch,  as  in  fig.   13.     This 

illustration    is    an 
excellent  example 
of  this   form  of 
stone    axe.      It    is 
four   inches    in 
length,  by  two  and 
one-half  in  width. 
It    is    of   uniform 
thickness,  the  edge 
being  quite  abrupt, 
and  hence  of  very 
little  cutting  pow 
er.    The  surface  of 
the  implement  has 
been  polished  ex 
cept  at  the  head, 
which    has    been 
pecked  to  the  de 
sired  shape. 

Fig.  1 4  repre 
sents  a  second  ex 
ample  of  this  form, 
and  differs  princi 
pally  from  the  pre 
ceding,  in  being 
an  ordinary  water- 
worn  pebble,  that 
t''  has  been  notched 

S*  and  by  a  little  mod- 

* *  * '  ification  brought  to 

FIG.  I4— New  Jersey.    \.  ks    present    ^^ 

Except  this,  all  the  examples  of  notched  axes  have  been  well  polished, 


STONE   AXES.  29 

and  have  received  that  finish  over  the  entire  surface  which  charac 
terizes  a  polished  celt. 

Two  other  examples  of  this  pattern  have  been  collected  in  Glouces 
ter  Co.,  N.  J.,  one  of  which  shows  a  trace  of  wear  upon  one  side,  ex 
tending  from  notch  to  notch,  though  it  does  not  amount  to  a  groove. 
This  scratched  and  worn  surface  was  caused,  probably,  by 'the  band, 
that  passed  around  the  implement  to  secure  the  handle ;  although 
how  the  handle  was  attached,  if  differently  from  the  method  fol 
lowed  in  hafting  the  ordinary  grooved  axes,  is  not  made  clear,  by 
the  mere  presence  of  the  notches,  unless  they  can  be  considered  as 
replacing  the  groove  which  is  hardly  possible. 

Notched  axes,  such  as  the  above,  while  not  common  in  any 
part  of  North  America,  are  of  comparative  frequency  in  South 
America.  In  the  cabinet  of  the  late  Prof.  Haldeman  there  is  a 
beautiful  example  from  Demerara ;  in  the  Museum  at  Cambridge, 
there  are  others  from  Brazil  and  the  West  India  Islands,  and  in  the 
Archives  of  the  National  Museum  of  Brazil,11  a  specimen  very  similar 
to  fig.  14  is  represented. 

Fig.  15  represents  a  highly  finished  example  of  a  grooved  im 
plement,  which  may  originally  have  been  an  axe.  At  present,  the 
point  that  replaces  the  edge  makes  it  difficult  of  classification,  as  it 
is  quite  unlike  any  other  specimen  from  the  localities,  whence  are 
derived  the  material  upon  which  this  volume  is  based.  It  is  not, 
however,  by  any  means  a  unique  specimen.  Axes  with  an  edge  so 
narrow,  as  to  be  almost  pointed,  are  occasionally  found  in  Pennsyl 
vania  ;  and  in  Ohio,  specimens  that  are  distinctly  pointed,  and  not 
simply  with  a  narrowed  edge,  are  even  more  common.  They  do  not 
occur  in  New  England,  at  least  nothing  of  this  character  is  found 
in  the  collections  of  axes  in  the  museums  there. 

The  upper  margin  and  a  portion  of  each  side  of  the  specimen  here 
figured,  from  near  the  middle  to  the  extreme  point,  are  quite  highly 
polished.  The  under  surface  and  head  of  the  implement  are  pecked 

11  Archives  do  Mus.  Nac.  do  Rio  de  Janeiro,  Vol.  i,  Trim  i°.  Est.  i,  Fig.  2,  1876. 


3° 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


and  smooth,  but  not  polished.  This  polishing  of  one  surface  only  is 
indicative,  probably,  of  the  fact  that  the  specimen  was  originally  an 
ordinary  axe,  with  an  edge  equal  in  length  to  the  width  of  the  blade ; 
and  the  polished  surfaces  result  from  grinding  the  face  down  to  its 

present  outline,  in  consequence 
of  some  accident  by  which 
the  edge  was  destroyed.  This, 
however,  is  wholly  conjectural. 
As  an  instance  of  the  oc 
currence  of  a  well  known  form 
of  stone  implement  far  be 
yond  its  supposed  boundaries, 
fig.  1 6  is  worthy  of  attention. 
Not  only  does  this  specimen 
prove  the  occurrence  of 
grooved  axes  on  the  coast  of 
California,  but  it  is  also  an 
instance  of  the  pointed  instead 
of  edged  axe.  This  axe,  if 
such  it  may  be  called,  was 
found  by  Mr.  Schumacher,  at 
the  steatite  quarry,  on  St. 
Catalina  Island,  and  it  shows 
in  the  thin  coating  of  steatite 
dust  which  is  ground  into  it, 
that  it  has  been  used  for  the 
purpose  of  pecking  or  ham 
mering  out  masses  of  soap- 

FTG.  xs.-Ncw  Jersey.      L  ^^    for    subsequent    COnVCr- 

sion  into  the  cooking  vessels,  that  are  found  in  that  neighborhood  in 
such  great  abundance. 

While  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  locality,  where  the  preceding 
example  of  a  pointed  axe  from  New  Jersey  was  found,  there  is  an  ex 
tensive  soapstone  quarry,  that  was  well  known  to  the  Indians,  it  is 


STONE    AXES. 


not  probable  that  this  specimen  was  used  in  working  it,  as  it  is  free 
from  such  scratches  and  slight  fractures  as  would  result  from  the  con 
stant  hammering  upon  even  so  yielding  a  material  as  steatite.     In  all 
probability,    the   pointed   axe, 
fig.    15,   was   a  weapon,    and 
the    somewhat   similar    speci 
men    from    California  was    a 
tool. 

Dr.  Daniel  Wilson,  in  "  Pre 
historic  Man,"  page  412,  gives 
an  illustration  and    comments 
on  an    "inscribed    axe"    that 
was  found  in  New  Jersey,  and 
so  claims  a  notice  here.    We 
quote  in  full:    "In   1859,  Dr. 
John  C.  Evans,  of  Pemberton, 
N.    J.,    communicated  to   the 
American  Ethnological  Society 
an  account  of  a  stone  axe  in 
scribed  in  similar  [that  is,  to 
the    'Yarmouth    Bay   Stone,'] 
unknown    characters,    which 
had    been    recently  ploughed 
up    on    a    neighboring    farm. 
The   axe,    which    measures 
about  six  inches  long  by  three 
and  a  half  broad,  is  engraved 
from  a  drawing    furnished  to 
me  by  Dr.  Evans.     Dr.  E.  H. 
Davis,  after  carefully  examin 
ing  the    original,    informs    me 
that,  though  the  graven  char 
acters  have  been  partially  retouched  in   the  process   of  cleaning  it, 
their  edges   present  an  appearance  of  age  consistent  with  the  idea 


FIG.  16.  —  California.     5. 


32  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

of  their  genuineness,  and  the  circumstances  attending  its  production 
furnish  no  grounds  for  doubting  its  authenticity.  Two  of  the  char 
acters  are  placed  on  one  side  in  the  groove  for  the  handle ;  the  others 
apparently  form  a  continuous  line,  running  round  both  sides  of  the 
axe-blade." 

An  example  of  an  inscribed  axe  is  now  in  the  collection  of  the 
Museum  at  Cambridge,  from  New  Jersey,  which  certainly  cannot  be 
considered  as  of  modern  origin,  nor  is  the  "inscription"  of  an  "alpha 
betical"  character.  Yet  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  it  is  a  carefully 
carved  inscription,  whatever  its  meaning  may  be.  The  figures  or 
marks  are  as  follows  :  aiuo."  They  are  deeply  cut,  and  are  about 
as  closely  placed,  as  they  would  be,  were  it  intended  to  write  that 
date. 

Such  an  instance  as  this  cannot  be  attributed  to  plough  marks  or  any 
accidental  occurrence  of  that  character ;  and  if  it  has  any  meaning 
such  as  ownership,  it  is  of  great  interest,  and  may  be  allied  to  the 
peculiar  notchings  on  many  ornamental  objects,  which  are  of  such  a 
character  as  to  lead  to  the  supposition,  they  are  not  simply  attempts 
at  ornamentation. 

The  Pemberton  axe,  referred  to  above  by  Dr.  Wilson,  has  at  times,  ex 
cited  considerable  discussion  and  is  a  fraud,  so  far  as  the  "inscription" 
goes.  It  should  in  all  such  cases  be  remembered  that  the  discovery 
of  such  specimens,  even  when  made  by  people  of  known  integrity, 
does  not  by  any  means,  settle  the  question  of  the  genuineness  of  the 
inscription.  Those  who  unfortunately  have  so  little  to  do,  that  they 
can  find  time,  and  are  malicious  enough  to  perpetrate  such  hoaxes, 
desire,  above  all  things,  that  their  handiwork  should  fall  into  just  such 
hands  as  did  the  Pemberton  axe.  When  such  remarkable  objects  are 
found  by  men  of  respectability,  they  are  received  with  that  attention 
and  interest,  which  the  fabricators  could  not  hope  to  gain,  were  they 
to  present  the  discovery  as  their  own.  Fortunately  the  poor  fool, 
who  carved  a  few  meaningless  lines  on  an  axe,  overshot  the  mark, 
and  in  making  them  too  much  like  known  characters,  he  failed  to 
mystify  the  honest  workers  in  archaeology. 


STONE    AXES.  33 

And  here,  also,  it  may  be  well  to  caution  archaeologists  against  frauds 
of  a  different  character,  which  are  even  more  likely  to  deceive  the 
unwary.  These  are  imitations  in  soapstone  of  well  known  patterns  of 
implements,  rare  or  even  wholly  wanting  in  some  cases  in  the  localities 
from  which  they  are  said  to  come.  Fraudulent  axes  of  polished  ste 
atite,  beautiful  in  form  and  finish,  do  not  unfrequently  find  their  way 
into  the  cabinets  of  private  collectors,  where,  however,  they  accom 
plish  but  little  harm. 

It  would  be  easy  to  go  on  for  an  indefinite  time,  and  point  out  pe 
culiar  features  in  the  multitudes  of  stone  axes  that  are  to  be  found  in 
every  museum,  and  scattered  throughout  the  country,  but  it  is  unnec 
essary  to  give  additional  examples. 

Whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  scientific  value  of  single  specimens 
of  these  axes,  or  of  other  relics  found  lying  upon  the  surface  of  the 
ground,  that  value  is  enhanced  perhaps,  or  at  least  interest  is  attached 
to  the  specimens,  when  we  occasionally  have  the  good  fortune  to  un 
earth  a  so-called  "  deposit  "  of  these  specimens,  sometimes  numbering 
several  hundred. 

In  one  case,  in  digging  a  cellar  in  Trenton,  N.  J.,  one  hundred  and 
twenty  were  found,  "all  closely  huddled  up  together,"  as  described  by 
the  man  who  found  them.  They  were  about  three  feet  below  the 
surface,  and  a  "  foot  deep  "  in  the  gravel  underlying  the  soil.  They 
were  surrounded  by,  and  entirely  covered  with,  a  bright  brick-red  pow 
der.  Again,  in  digging  the  receiving-vault  of  the  Riverview  cemetery, 
near  Trenton,  N.  J.,  "  a  bushel-basketful  of  these  axes  was  found, 
packed  closely  together,  six  feet  deep  in  the  ground."  In  the  neigh 
borhood  of  the  bluff  fronting  the  Delaware  river,  about  three  miles  be 
low  Trenton,  N.  J.,  several  such  instances  have  come  to  the  notice  of 
the  writer.  In  the  first  two  instances,  the  specimens  were  all  grooved 
cobble-stone  axes.  In  another  case,  fifty  porphyry  celts  were  found. 
These  appeared  to  have  been  carefully  deposited,  and  not  thrown 
pell-mell  into  the  hole  dug  to  contain  them. 

In  all  such  cases  of  "  deposits  "  of  either  axes  or  celts,  there  has 
been  no  commingling  of  a  number  of  forms  of  implements,  nor  any 


34  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

trace  of  fire.  The  inference,  judging  from  the  conditions  under  which 
those  in  New  Jersey  were  found,  is  that  they  have  been  buried  for  the 
purpose  of  temporarily  concealing  them. 

But  one  single  fact  has  come  under  notice  that  in  any  way  bears 
upon  the  subject  of  the  age  of  these  relics. 

The  instance  referred  to  was  as  follows  :  on  the  3d  of  July,  1869, 
a  large  white  oak,  measuring  twenty-seven  feet  in  circumference 
at  three  feet  from  the  ground,  during  a  high  gale  of  wind,  was  up 
rooted.  A  short  time  afterward  the  immense  stump  was  removed  pre 
paratory  to  levelling  the  ground.  The  hole  that  the  extracted  roots 
left  measured  seven  feet  in  depth  and  thirty-three  in  circumference. 
Four  feet  below  the  bottom  of  this  hole,  or  eleven  feet  from  the  sur 
face  of  the  ground,  was  found  a  very  rude  stone  axe,  entangled  in  a 
mass  of  fibrous  roots  that  had  been  cut  off  from  the  main  roots  of 
the  tree.  In  this  case  the  axe  must  have  been  buried  in  the  earth  be 
fore  this  old  tree  was  an  acorn.  Now,  as  to  the  age  of  the  tree. 
There  were  not  less  than  five  hundred  rings  clearly  to  be  traced  on  a 
section  of  the  tree  afterward  made ;  and  a  large  portion  of  the  centre 
and  another  portion  about  the  circumference  could  not  be  determined 
accurately,  but  which,  on  comparison  with  so  much  of  the  tree  as 
retained  the  rings  sufficiently  distinct  to  be  counted,  might  safely  be 
estimated  at  as  many  more  circles.  Without  allowing  for  any  time  to 
have  elapsed  from  the  time  the  axe  fell  to  the  ground,  or  was  inten 
tionally  buried,  we  have  here  with  considerable  certainty,  indications 
of  the  long  stretch  of  one  thousand  years  that  this  axe  has  been  quietly 
resting  in  the  ground. 


CHAPTER    III. 


CELTS,  CHISELS  AND  GOUGES. 


THE  term  "celt,"  from  the  Latin  Celtis,  a  chisel,  has  been  univer 
sally  applied  to  certain  polished  cutting  implements  of  stone,  which 
may  be  considered  as  the  typical  form  of  implement  of  the  polished 
stone,  or  neolithic  period.12  The  term,  as  ordinarily  used,  however, 
includes  such  a  considerable  range  of  forms,  that  some  limited  sub 
division  seems  desirable  to  avoid  confusion. 

The  series  of  polished  and  worked  stone  implements  that  are 
collectively  described  in  the  present  chapter,  are,  in  accordance  with 
this  plan,  subdivided  into  three  classes  :  the  celts  proper,  with  broad, 
convex  cutting  edges  ;  the  chisels  or  narrow  celts  with  straight  edges, 
and  the  gouges  or  celts  with  concave  blades  and  curved  cutting 
edges. 

As  in  all  cases,  where  an  attempt  is  made  to  classify  a  large  series 
of  stone  implements,  so  it  will  be  found  here,  that  many  objects  are 
so  closely  related  to  each  other,  that  places  are  assigned  to  them 
according  to  the  fancy  of  the  collector. 

In  considering  the  various  forms  that  have  been  gathered,  the 
grouping  has  been  made  about  the  most  pronounced  examples,  and 
the  boundary  line  in  most  cases  has  been  obliterated  by  the  many 
intermediate  forms. 

Of  the  celts  proper,  much  has  been  written,  yet  little  positively  as 
certained  as  to  their  uses.  If  there  were  no  grooved  axes  found  along 


12  Not  all  implements  of  this,  the  later  division  of  the  Stone  Age,  are  polished,  but  many  are 
simply  pecked  and  hammered  into  the  desired  shapes.  Such  implements  are  strictly  "  neolithic  " 
in  age. 

(35) 


PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 


our  Atlantic  seaboard,  the  larger  celts  might  be  considered  as  axes ; 

but  under  the  circumstances  it  cannot  be  shown  that  they  were  merely 

a  simpler  form  of  that  im 
plement.  The  smaller  celts 
have  been  supposed  to  be 
used  as  knives  for  skinning 
animals,  yet  no  savage  was 
ever  seen  to  skin  an  ani 
mal  with  one  of  them.  On 
the  contrary,  stone  knives 
of  a  very  different  pattern 
are  used  for  this  purpose. 

The  typical  chisels  were 
doubtless  used  in  much  the 
same  manner  as  the  steel 
chisels  of  to-day  :  the  wood 
having  been  previously 
charred,  so  as  to  make 
these  primitive  tools  avail 
able.  Such  of  these  as  are 
of  very  small  size  are  a 
puzzle  to  the  archseologist ; 
and  they  are  called  celts  or 
chisels  from  their  general 
resemblance  to  other  and 
larger  objects,  of  a  similar 
form,  the  use  of  which  is 
indicated  by  their  size  and 
shape. 

There    exists  less   doubt 
in    the    mind    of    the    col 
lector,    as    to    the    gouges, 
than  as  to  any  other  form 
of  stone  implement.     That  they  could  be  used  in  any  other  manner, 


FIG.  17.  —  New  Jersey. 


CELTS,  CHISELS  AND  GOUGES.  37 

than  as  their  name  indicates,  is  inconceivable ;  nevertheless,  we  are 
here  confronted  by  the  difficulty  that  besets  the  satisfactory  classifi 
cation  of  other  forms,  that  there  are  numbers  of  these  gouges  too 
small  to  be  of  any  practical  use.  In  this  case,  they  cann.ot  be 
disposed  of  as  "toys  for  children,"  and  hence,  as  far  as  they  are 
concerned,  we  are  left  in  the  dark. 

Fig.  1 7  represents  what  may  be  called  the  typical  celt  or  axe  without 
a  groove.  This  specimen  measures  eleven  inches  in  length  by  four  in 
greatest  width,  and  has  a  beautiful,  even,  sharp  cutting  edge,  of  a  semi 
circular  outline,  which  is  perfectly  true  in  every  detail.  The  entire 
surface  is  evenly  polished,  but  the  material  —  a  very  compact  fine 
grained  sandstone  —  has  not  that  glossiness  of  surface  found  on  celts, 
made  of  porphyry  or  diorite. 

Admirably  fashioned  and  well  adapted  as  it  is  even  to  cutting  wood, 
it  is  difficult  to  conjecture  any  use  for  such  an  implement,  except  it  be 
securely  hafted ;  and  that  it  was  used  in  connection  with  a  handle, 
there  can  be  but  little  doubt.  If  such  celts  as  these,  which  are  very 
abundant  along  our  northern  Atlantic  coast,  had  been  usually  hafted  in 
stag-horn,  as  are  many  of  those  found  in  Swiss  lakes,  it  is  scarcely 
possible  that  all  trace  of  such  horn  handles  should  have  disappeared, 
especially  as  other  implements  of  antler  are  exceedingly  common  ;  and 
in  one  case  a  finely  polished  celt  of  that  very  material  has  been  taken 
from  a  burial  mound  in  Arkansas. 

In  the  collections  of  the  American  Museum  of  Natural  History,  at 
Central  Park,  New  York,  there  is  preserved  a  beautiful  example  of  a 
polished  celt  of  this  pattern,  still  retained  in  its  wooden  handle.  This 
handle  is  made  of  some  hard  wood,  apparently  black  walnut,  worked 
to  a  nearly  cylindrical  shape,  and  about  fifteen  inches  in  length.  The 
handle  has  been  perforated  for  the  insertion  of  the  implement,  in  the 
same  manner  as  the  wooden  and  horn  handles  found  in  the  Swiss 
lakes.  In  the  New  York  specimen,  the  celt  was  hafted  so  that  the 
implement  projected  equally  from  both  sides  of  the  handle,  and  thus 
rendered  available  for  use,  the  pointed  end,  as  well  as  the  cutting  edge 
of  the  tool.  This  hafted  celt  was  found  near  Lake  Luzerne,  N.  Y. 


38  PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 

If  such  implements  as  fig.  1 7  could  be  referred  to  the  simple  class  of 
chisels,  which  is  scarcely  warranted,  and  considered  only  in  connection 
with  a  hammer,  as  implements  for  working  in  wood,  as  canoe-making, 
then,  indeed,  there  would  be  no  reason  for  supposing  that  they  were 
ever  hafted,  but  the  specimen  found  with  its  handle,  to  which  refer 
ence  has  been  made,  shows  that,  at  least  to  some  extent,  these  larger 
celts  were  attached  to  handles. 

Mr.  Morgan13  has  remarked  of  the  Iroquois,  "  for  cutting  trees,  and 
excavating  canoes  and  corn-mortars,  in  a  word,  for  those  necessary 
purposes,  for  which  the  axe  would  seem  to  be  indispensable,  the  Iro 
quois  used  the  stone  chisel  Uh'-ga-o-gwat-ha.  In  cutting  trees,  fire 
was  applied  at  the  foot  and  the  chisel  used  to  clear  away  the  coal. 
By  a  repetition  of  the  prc-cess,  trees  were  felled  and  cut  to  pieces. 
Wooden  vessels  were  hollowed  out  by  the  same  means.  Fire  and  the 
chisel  were  the  substitutes  for  the  axe.  The  chisel  was  usually  about 
six  inches  long,  three  wide  and  two  thick ;  the  lower  end  being  fash 
ioned  like  the  edge  of  an  axe.  Stone  gouges  in  the  form  of  a  convex 
chisel  were  also  used  when  a  more  regular  concavity  of  the  vessel  was 
desired." 

If  it  be  proper  to  call  all  such  polished  stone  implements,  chisels, 
and  consider  them  only  as  a  carpenter's  tool ;  it  is  evident  from  the 
fact  of  their  very  frequent  occurrence  in  graves,  that  they  possessed 
a  high  value  in  the  estimation  of  the  natives,  which  is  somewhat  im 
probable,  if  they  were  never  put  to  other  uses  than  boat-building  and 
the  felling  of  trees.  Fig.  17,  associated  with  another  celt  of  equal 
size  and  scarcely  inferior  finish,  was  ploughed  up  in  a  field  known  to 
have  been  an  Indian  burial  place.  When  discovered,  the  two  were 
lying  side  by  side,  in  actual  contact. 

As  there  is  a  well-marked  class  of  implements  found  in  the  same 
localities  where  celts  occur,  which  are  true  chisels,  it  is  not  without 
reason  that  such  large  celts  as  fig.  1 7  should  be  considered  weapons. 

In  figs.  1 8  and  19  we  have  examples  of  common  celts.     These  are 


13  League  of  the  Iroquois,  p.  358.     New  York,  1849. 


CELTS,  CHISELS  AND  GOUGES. 


39 


the  ordinary  forms  as  gathered  in  the  ploughed  fields,  found  in  graves, 
or  unearthed  in  digging  about  village  sites.  Although  not  so  abun 
dant,  they  are  almost  as  well  known  as  arrowheads,  or  grooved  axes. 
In  the  two  specimens  here  figured,  there  will  be  noticed  one  marked 
difference.  Fig.  18  is  acutely  pointed  at  the  upper  end ;  while  fig.  19 
is  as  markedly  blunt,  and  further  shows  that  it  has  been  subjected  to 
hard  usage,  as  from  blows  from  a  stone  hammer.  Does  this  difference 
between  the  acutely  pointed  and  the  biunt  head  indicate  that  the 


FIG.  18. — New  Jersey. 


FIG.  19.  —  New  Jersey.     |. 


latter  was  used  as  a  chisel  ?  It  would  indeed  be  difficult  to  strike  an 
effective  blow,  with  certainty,  on  the  pointed  head  of  such  a  chisel 
as  fig.  1 8. 

This  pattern  is  found  in  every  part  of  the  globe  where  polished 
stone  implements  occur,  showing  that  it  best  met  the  common  wants 
of  mankind,  everywhere  ;  and  possibly,  if  we  could  determine  one 
use  to  which  such  axes  were  adapted,  of  a  strictly  universal  nature,  it 


4o 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 


would  be  safe  to  apply  a  name  suggested  by  such  use  to  this  form,  now 
known  by  the  somewhat  objectionable  term  of  "celt." 

Sir  John  Lubbock14  figures  a  celt,  similar  to  fig.  18,  from  Ireland; 
Nilsson15  figures  them  from  Scandinavia;  and  the  pattern  is  nearly 

approached  in  axes  from 
Accra,  West  Africa,  figured 
by  Sir  J.  Lubbock.16 

Fig.  20  represents  a  speci 
men  of  the  larger  ungrooved 
celts,  that  show  but  little  trace 
of  human  workmanship,  other 
than  the  finely-wrought  edge, 
and  a  limited  polished  surface 
on  the  upper  and  lower  mar 
gins.  It  measures  eight  and 
one-quarter  inches  in  length, 
by  four  inches  in  width,  at  a 
point  a  little  in  advance  of  the 
middle.  It  is  of  ordinary  sand 
stone,  and  originally  was  very 
nearly  of  its  present  shape. 
One  side  is  flatter  than  the 
other,  and  appears  to  have 
been  pecked  and  then  some 
what  polished.  The  margins 
have  been  polished  for  a  short 
distance  from  the  edge,  and, 

FK,  2o.-NeW  Jersey.     |.  Qn  ^  ^^  ^^  ^^  ^  ^ 

very  smooth  surface,  a  little  over  an  inch  in  extent  either  way,  that 
appears  to  be  such  "peculiar  polished  space,  which  has  been  produced 
by  the  friction  of  the  wood,"  described  by  Lubbock  as  exhibited  in 

14  Prehistoric  Times,  zd  ed.,  figs.  97-98.  page  88. 

15  Stone  Age  in  Scandinavia,  plate  vii,  figs.  151  and  162. 

lfl  Journ.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  London,  vol.  i,  page  xcv  (Proc.  Eth.  Soc.). 


CELTS,  CHISELS  AND  GOUGES. 


some  specimens  found  in  Europe.     There  does  not  appear  to  have 
been  any  hard  hammering  upon  the  head  of  this  celt. 

Rude  celts  of  this  very  primitive  pattern  are  by  no  means  common 
in  New  Jersey,  nor  are  they  any  more  so  in  the  New  England  states. 
Possibly,  to  some  extent,  they  may  have  been  overlooked,  for  such  a 
celt  as  fig.  20  would  scarcely  be  recognized  if  found  lying  in  a 
stony  field.  Pebbles  thus  sharpened  at  one  end  may  have  been  used 
for  a  short  time  only  and  then  thrown  aside,  and  under  most  circum 
stances,  such  discarded  im 
plements  would  have  the 
edge  broken  by  violent 
contact  with  other  stones. 

The  puzzling  feature  of 
such  rude  implements  as 
the  above  is,  that  one  fails 
to  comprehend  why  such 
should  ever  have  been  used, 
when  there  was  apparently 
such  an  abundance  of  bet 
ter  ones,  and  when  the  edge 
is  too  limited  in  extent  ap 
parently  to  be  of  any  use 
for  cutting  purposes. 

Fig.  2 1  represents  a  com 
paratively  common  style  of 
celt  made  from  a  piece  of  serpentine,  pecked  to  a  blunt  point 
at  the  back.  From  about  the  middle  of  the  implement  to  the 
edge  it  is  very  smoothly  polished.  This  specimen  measures  a  little 
less  than  three  inches  in  length,  and  two  inches  in  width  along 
the  cutting-edge,  and  is  a  very  good  average  example  of  this  class 
of  implements. 

Objects  of  this  character,  made,  not  only  of  serpentine,  but  of  much 
denser  mineral. are  very  common,  wherever  stone  implements  of  any 


FIG.  21.  —  New  Jersey,    j. 


42 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


pattern  are  found.  This  particular  shape  is  even  more  abundant  than 
the  modification  of  it,  which  has  the  head  nearly  or  quite  as  broad  as 
the  edge. 

In  New  England,  though  not  rare,  these  small  celts  are  less  fre 
quently  found  than  throughout  New  York  and  New  Jersey.  This 
comparative  scarcity  throughout  New  England  is  the  more  noticeable 
from  the  fact,  that  there  does  not  appear  to  be  any  common  form  of 
stone  implement  found  there  which  might  readily  replace  it.  As  a 
rule,  these  small  celts  are  still  found  with  entire  or  but  slightly  fractured 

edges,  which  is  proof  of  the 
fact  that  they  were  not  ex 
posed  to  violent  contact  with 
substances  harder  than  wood. 
Indeed,  their  size  and  shape 
show  that  they  were  not 
mounted  in  handles,  as  were 
grooved  axes,  however  it  may 
have  been  with  such  long  and 
slender  forms  as  fig.  17,  but 
may  have  been  hafted  in  deers' 
horn,  as  were  all  the  similar 
celts  found  in  the  Swiss  lakes. 
In  the  magnificent  series  of 
small  cdts,  contained  in  the 
Clement  collection  of  the  Ar 
chaeological  Museum  at  Cam- 
Fir,.  22.  —  New  Jersey.  I . 

bridge,     there     are     hundreds 

which  are  mounted  in  horn  or  bone,  by  being  inserted  into  the  handle 
in  such  a  manner  that  only  a  small  portion  of  the  blade  projects.  The 
use  to  which  these  diminutive  implements  were  put,  is,  of  course,  a  mat 
ter  of  conjecture.  They  may  have  been  weapons,  and  possibly  were  also 
used  for  splitting  the  long  bones  of  those  animals  which  were  used  for 
food.  The  identical  character  of  the  implement  as  found  in  America, 


CELTS,  CHISELS  AND  GOUGES. 


43 


does  not,  however,  indicate  necessarily  that  they  were  used   in  this 
country  in  the  same  manner  as  were  those  found  in  the  -Swiss  lakes. 

Fig.  22  represents  a  slightly  different  pattern,  being  nearly  square 
in  outline.  This  blunt  head,  however,  is  carefully  smoothed,  and 
shows  no  trace  of  hammering,  as  might  be  looked  for,  had  the  imple 
ment  been  used  as  a  chisel.  This  difference  in  outline  does  not  indi 
cate  any  difference  of  purpose,  probably,  and  no  use  could  be  made 
of  this  celt  which  could  not  be  made  of  the  one  immediately  preceding. 

As  yet,  the  collections  of  stone  implements  made  do  not  supply  us 
with  any  examples  of  pebbles  of  this  form,  with  simply  an  edge 
worked  upon  one  end,  as  we  have  seen  is  true  of  such  larger  celts 
as  fig.  20.  Small  celts,  like  figs.  21  and  22,  and,  as  will  be  seen 
later  on,  fig.  25,  have 
had  their  entire  surfaces 
carefully  worked,  and  it 
is  not  unlikely  that,  in 
many  cases,  these  smaller 
specimens  were  origin 
ally  much  longer,  and 
constant  resharpening 
has  reduced  their  origi 
nal  length,  possibly  one- 
half.  Grooved  axes,  we 
have  seen,  have  been 
reground  until  their 


FIG.  23.  —  New  Jersey.     -{ . 


length  was  quite  disproportioned  to  the  breadth  and  thickness  of  the 
blade,  and  such,  too,  was  the  case  with  many  of  the  grooved  hoes  that 
have  been  collected. 

Fig.  23  represents  an  excellent  example  of  these  small  celts  greatly 
reduced  in  length  by  successive  sharpenings.  This  specimen  is  a  por 
phyry  pebble,  originally  globular  in  form,  although  it  may  have  been 
oval,  and  hence  the  original  grinding  away  of  so  much  as  was  neces 
sary  to  produce  an  edge  was  not  as  great  as  now  appears.  It,  indeed, 
seems  incredible  that  a  pebble  of  one  inch  and  three-eighths  in  thick- 


44 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


ness,  and  less  than  two  inches  in  length,  should  be  chosen  for  making 
one  of  these  small  implements. 

Quite  small  celts,  with  convex  sides,  curved  edges,  and  of  a  thick 
ness  usually  equal  to  one-half  the  width,  are  almost  as  abundant 
as  those  I  have  called  the  typical,  medium  sized  celt,  such  as  fig.  18. 
It  is  difficult  to  determine  the  relative  abundance  of  various  patterns, 
as  we  are  still,  of  course,  ignorant  of  how  great  a  number  of  these 
same  forms  are  left  in  the  soil,  for  future  explorers  to  collect ;  but 
basing  calculations  on  such  large  series  as  have  been  gathered,  it  may 
be  stated,  that  celts  are  abundant  in  proportion  to  their  approach  to 

such  sizes  as  those  represented 
in  figs.  1 8  and  19;  and  that 
larger  and  smaller  specimens 
are  rare  in  proportion  as  they 
exceed  in  size,  or  are  smaller 
than,  figs.  17  and  21. 

Fig.  24  represents  an  ex 
ample  of  a  thin  pebble,  quite 
similar  to  fig.  22.  This  little 
celt  is  made  of  very  compact 
stone,  and  has  not  only  a 
carefully  worked  edge,  but  is 
evenly  polished  over  the  en 
tire  surface.  Such  thin,  square 
celts  as  this  are  frequently 
found  in  New  Jersey,  and  oc 
casionally  in  New  England. 

In  Ohio  and  westward,  they  are  in  greatest  abundance,  and  taken 
collectively,  those  found  in  that  region  exhibit  the  maximum  degree 
of  skill  in  shaping  and  finishing. 

Fig.  25  varies  considerably  from  the  preceding,  in  that  the  surfaces 
are  not  made  to  blend  into  each  other,  but  are  ground  so. as  to  make 
the  celt  angular.  This  is  noticeable  not  only  at  the  edge,  but  at 
the  margins  also.,  which  are  smooth  and  almost  at  right  angles  to  the 


FIG.  24.  —  New  Jersey.    4-. 


CELTS,  CHISELS  AND  GOUGES. 


45 


broad  sides.  This  specimen  differs  in  these  respects  from  the  average 
implement  of  this  pattern,  found  in  New  Jersey,  and  is  similar  to  the 
majority  of  those  found  in  Ohio  and  Indiana. 

Fig.  26  may  properly  be  placed  in  the  same  "  class  "  with  the  pre 
ceding.  Although  a  much  less  finished  specimen,  it  was  unquestion 
ably  put  to  the  same  uses.  It  is  made  of  a  fine-grained  porphyritic 
stone,  and  has  been  polished  over  its  entire  surface.  This  little  "celt" 
measures  two  and  one-eighth  inches  in  length  by  one  and  three- 
quarters  in  width.  The  cutting  edge  was  originally  good.  The  back 


FIG.  25.  —  New  Jersey. 


FIG.  26. —  Nevr  Jersey. 


has  a  ridge  running  obliquely  across  it,  from  which  the  surfaces  slope 
at  an  angle  of  forty-five  degrees. 

Sir  John  Lubbock,17  in  some  "Notes  on  Stone  Implements  from 
Africa  and  Syria,"  gives  figures  of  actual  size  of  stone  axes,  which 
certainly  are  identical  in  shape,  and  have  been  used,  no  doubt,  in  an 
identical  manner.  The  author  says,  with  reference  to  them  :  "  Some 
of  the  West  African  axes,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  figures  (plate  ii,  figs. 
i  and  2),  closely  resemble  some  of  the  smaller  axes  so  common  in 


'  Journ.  Anthrop.  Inst.,  London,  vol.  i,  page  xcii,  plate  n,  figs,  i  and  2  (Eth.  Soc.  Proc.). 


46  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

Western  Europe;"  and  adds,  as  has  already  been  observed  of  the 
preceding  pattern,  "  Indeed,  this  type  may  be  said  to  be  cosmo 
politan,  and  needs  no  description." 

Fig.  27  represents  one  of  those  very  diminutive  celts  that  are  not 
uncommon  in  almost  any  considerable  collection  of  Indian  stone 
implements.  This  example  is  a  serpentine  pebble  carefully  rubbed 
down,  until  brought  to  a  convenient  shape,  and  then  given  an  excellent 
cutting  edge.  Except  the  still  smaller  hematite  celts,  of  which  but 
very  few  examples  have  been  found  in  New  Jersey,  and  none  in  New 
England,  this  is  about  the  smallest  of  this  class  of  polished  stone  im 
plements.  For  what  purpose  they  were  made,  it  is  in  vain  to  con 
jecture  ;  but  it  must  not  be  inferred  because  this 
specimen,  measuring  less  than  two  inches  in 
length  is  called  by  the  same  name  as  fig.  17, 
which  lacks  little  of  being  twelve  inches  in 
length,  that  they  were  regarded  as  identical  im 
plements  by  the  people  who  fashioned  them. 

The  hematite  celts,  to  which  reference  has 
been  made,  are  seldom  smaller  than  fig.  27,  but 
are  thinner  and  have  had  every  surface  carefully 
worked  down  to  a  polished  state.  The  edges  of 
these  celts  are  well  preserved,  and  while  usually 

FlG.  27.  —  New  Jersey.   -J-. 

sharper  than  even  the  best  specimens  made  of 

hornstone  or  porphyry,  there  is  not  that  difference  which  would 
seem  to  warrant  the  extra  labor  of  reducing  hematite  to  a  suitable 
shape. 

It  is  an  interesting  fact  with  reference  to  the  use  of  this  mineral,  by 
the  Indians,  for  making  either  implements  or  ornaments,  that  in  Hun- 
terdon  and  Warren  counties,  New  Jersey,  where  hematite  occurs  in 
the  greatest  abundance,  that  so  few  specimens  of  implements  made  of 
it  should  be  found.  Ordinary  stone  implements,  of  every  pattern 
occur  in  the  greatest  profusion,  but  of  thousands  of  specimens  ex 
amined,  less  than  a  dozen  were  made  of  hematite.  It  is  not  improba 
ble  that  the  few  that  have  been  found  were  brought  from  a  distance, 


CELTS,  CHISELS  AND  GOUGES.  47 

and  that  the  resident  tribes  were  not  accustomed  to  make  use  of  this 
material. 

Fig.  28  is  a  remarkably  pretty  example  of  a  celt  of  totally  different 
shape  and  character,  being  a  long,  slender  stone,  edged  at  one  end, 
instead  of  on  the  margin  of  one  of  its  longer  sides.  The  illustration 
will  convey  a  better  idea  of  the  specimen  itself  than  can  any  descrip 
tion.  The  specimen  is  a  hornstone  pebble,  beautifully  polished  over 
the  greater  portion  of  its  surface.  One  end  is  blunt,  as  though  ab 
ruptly  broken  off,  but  is  now  as  well  polished  as  any  of  the  other 
parts.  From  this  blunt  end,  the  width  of  the  specimen  gradually 
increases,  with  about  a  corresponding  decrease  in  the  breadth  or 


FIG.  28.  — New  Jersey.     •]-. 

thickness  for  the  distance  of  an  inch,  when  the  width  decreases  by  a 
beautiful  curve  more  marked  upon  the  upper  margin,  which  margin 
becomes  the  edge  at  the  descent  of  the  curve,  and  continues  so  until 
it  joins  the  straighter  portion  of  the  lower  outline  of  the  specimen. 
The  blade,  or  edged  end,  is  slightly  bent,  or,  at  least,  has  that  appear 
ance,  from  the  edge  not  being  in  a  line  with  the  middle  of  the  thickest 
portion  of  the  implement.  If  the  specimen  is  held  with  the  straighter 
side  (lower  side,  in  our  figure)  up,  then  the  blade  is  bent  to  the  right 
and  has  just  the  proper  "twist"  to  separate  the  skin  from  the  muscles 
most  readily,  if  the  implement  is,  as  was  probable,  a  knife  for  skinning 
animals.  Certainly  to  such  a  purpose,  it  is  in  every  way  well  adapted. 
Still  other  forms  presenting  slight  variations  might  be  readily  given, 


48 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


and  an  unbroken  series  from  one  extreme  to  the  other  might  be  pro 
vided  from  the  hundreds  of  these  celts  that  have  already  been  gath 
ered  ;  but  a  sufficient  number  have  been  noticed  in  detail  to  enable 
any  one,  who  happily  may  chance  upon  one  of  these  implements,  in 
the  course  of  a  summer  ramble,  to  recognize  it  without  difficulty,  even 
if  our  studies  of  hundreds  of  specimens  do  not  throw  any  light  upon 

the  part  they  played  in  the  daily  lives  of 
the  savage  people  who  made  them. 

In  the  preceding  illustrations  of  this 
chapter,  the  cutting  edge  has  been  pro 
duced  by  carefully  grinding  the  stone 
from  each  side,  so  that  the  sloping  should 
be  equal,  and  the  edge  in  the  middle  of 
the  natural  margin  of  the  pebble  or  slab 
of  stone  used.  Furthermore,  all  these 
celts  have  a  distinctly  convex  edge,  as 
has  been  already  mentioned.  Fig.  29, 
while  in  many  respects  quite  similar  to 
the  celts  proper  that  have  been  described, 
varies  in  having  a  straight  edge,  in  being 
but  little  altered  over  much  of  its  surface, 
and  in  having  a  large  portion  of  the  peb 
ble  split  off,  thus  giving  the  blade  of  the 
chisel  an  upper  surface  that  is  flat.  Were 
there  no  other  examples  of  this  form  in 
the  collections  made  in  New  Jersey,  this 
might  be  considered  a  chance  occurrence,  and  had  resulted  from 
finding  a  pebble  with  a  convenient  fracture,  which  had  been  utilized 
by  being  ground  down  to  a  cutting  edge  at  one  end.  A  sufficient 
number  of  this  pattern  have  been  found,  however,  to  show  that  it  is 
evident  that  the  partial  splitting  off  of  one  surface  of  the  pebble  was 
intentional.  It  is  not  of  the  least  interest  in  this  connection  to  de 
termine  how  this  was  accomplished ;  for  the  evidence  favors  the 
conclusion  that  the  specimens  were  shaped  by  this  process,  and 


FIG.  29.  —  New  Jersey.     5. 


CELTS,  CHISELS  AND  GOUGES. 


49 


were  not  brought  to  the  general   pattern  of  fig.  29  by  pecking,  or 
grinding.     Chisels  of  this  pattern  are  not  abundant  in  New  Jersey. 

Fig.  30  represents  a  polished  hornstone  pebble,  perfectly  flat  upon 
one  side,  and  convex  upon  the  other.  There  is  a  symmetrical  conical 
head,  below  which  is  a  contraction  in  the  width  of  the  blade,  pro 
ducing  shallow  notches  upon  the  margins,  but  which  do  not  meet  so 
as  to  form  a  groove.  The  cutting  edge  is 
very  sharp,  and  has  been  quite  straight.  At 
present  the  corners  are  worn  away.  This 
implement,  supposed  to  be  a  chisel,  is  es 
sentially  the  same  as  the  preceding,  and 
measures  seven  and  one-half  inches  in  length, 
by  two  and  three-eighths  in  greatest  width. 
In  speaking  of  a  chisel,  we  are  apt  to  as 
sociate  it  with  the  idea  of  a  hammer,  as  it  is 
of  but  little  use,  except  a  blow,  as  from  a  ham 
mer,  be  given  it.  This  is  true  of  the  modern 
steel  chisel,  and  is  the  more  so  with  an  imple 
ment  made  of  stone,  such  as  fig.  29,  even  if 
charred  wood  be  the  principal  substance  cut 
with  it.  In  this  instance  the  narrow  conical 
head  seems  to  offer  a  serious  obstacle  to 
the  use  of  a  hammer ;  and  moreover,  the 
polished  condition  of  the  head  clearly  indi 
cates  that  it  has  never  been  exposed  to  any 
violent  usage. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  this  implement 

.    .       ,  FIG.  30.  —  New  Jersey,    i. 

might  have  been  used  in  detaching  bark  from 

trees,  either  for  canoe  purposes  or  for  coverings  for  huts ;  that  by 
placing  the  flat  side  down  or  upon  the  body  of  the  tree,  and  pushing 
the  implement  forward,  the  bark  would  be  detached  from  the  trunk  of 
the  tree  without  danger  of  cutting  it,  as  the  edge  of  the  implement 
pressed  upon  the  wood,  and  the  curved  back  of  the  blade  lifted  the 
bark  up  as  the  blade  moved  forward. 


50  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

Other  chisels,  or  chisel-like  modifications  of  the  better  known  celt, 
consist  of  cylindrical  and  quadrangular  implements,  usually  of  serpen 
tine,  measuring  from  three  to  five  inches  in  length  and  often  less  than 
an  inch  in  width  if  square,  or  half  an  inch  in  diameter  if  cylindrical. 
These  very  small  chisels  have  an  edge  varying  from  one-fourth  to  three- 
fourths  of  an  inch  in  extent.  But  very  few  have  been  found  in  New 
Jersey,  and  they  are  still  more  rarely  met  with  in  New  England ;  but 
as  we  pass  westward  of  the  Alleghany  mountains,  they  are  of  more 
frequent  occurrence,  and  are  fairly  abundant  throughout  Ohio  and 
Indiana. 

The  purpose  of  these  diminutive  chisels  is  difficult  to  determine  ;  and 
we  can  only  safely  place  them  among  that  indefinite  class  of  stone 
implements  which,  it  is  evident,  were  used  as  tools  for  making  other 
objects,  and  were  in  no  way  ever  brought  into  play  as  weapons.  This 
is,  indeed,  a  somewhat  unsatisfactory  method  of  disposing  of  a  vast 
number  of  the  most  interesting  forms  of  stone  implements  ;  but  as  the 
early  writers  either  did  not  see  them  in  actual  use,  or  else  have 
neglected  to  mention  it,  we  are  left  in  ignorance  of  the  part  they  were 
intended  to  play  in  the  daily  life  of  the  native  races,  or  are  forced  to 
take  refuge  in  conjecture,  as  to  the  purposes  of  a  considerable  propor 
tion  of  these  objects,  which  is,  at  best,  a  hazardous  experiment. 

Stone  gouges,  such  as  that  represented  in  fig.  31,  are  very  abun 
dant  in  New  England,  and  comparatively  rare  in  New  York  and  New 
Jersey.  In  eastern  Massachusetts,  and  particularly  in  Essex  Co.,  they 
are  even  more  abundant  than  stone  axes  in  central  New  Jersey,  and 
are  as  characteristic  of  every  series  of  stone  implements  from  that 
vicinity,  as  are  the  axes  from  the  former  locality.  Still,  they  do  not  in 
any  way  take  the  place  of  the  axes,  for  these  are  fairly  abundant  in 
New  England,  although  nowhere  of  as  frequent  occurrence  as  in  more 
southern  portions  of  the  Atlantic  seaboard. 

Fig.  3 1  is  made  of  a  compact,  granitic  rock,  and  has  been  carefully 
wrought  by  pecking,  until  brought  to  its  present  symmetrical  shape. 
It  is  nowhere  polished  or  smoothed,  but  the  surface  is,  nevertheless, 
quite  even,  and  has  a  finished  appearance,  notwithstanding  the  slight 


CELTS,  CHISELS  AND  GOUGES. 


inequalities.  This  gouge,  which  is  not,  however,  of  the  maximum 
length,  measures  eight  and  three-fourths  long,  by  about  three  inches 
in  greatest  width.  Unlike  many,  the 
curved  edge  is  of  limited  extent, 
while  the  hollowed  portion  of  the 
implement  itself  is  nearly  equal  to 
the  greatest  width.  A  second  pe 
culiar  feature,  which,  with  various 
slight  modifications,  is  common  to 
many  of  the  New  England  patterns 
of  stone  gouges,  is  the  transverse 
dorsal  ridge,  which  in  this  case,  is 
duplicated.  The  object  of  these 
ridges  is  quite  clear,  when  we  con 
sider  the  implement  as  a  gouge 
for  working  in  charred  wood,  as  in 
hollowing  out  a  log  canoe ;  for,  as 
such,  it  required  a  handle  to  which 
it  was  attached  in  much  the  same 
manner  as  a  New  Zealand  adze  was 
hafted.  Except  in  the  one  feature  of 
a  more  or  less  degree  of  curvature 
of  the  cutting  edge,  the  New  Eng 
land  gouges  are  the  American  rep 
resentatives  of  the  Pacific  Island 
adzes  referred  to.  This,  of  course, 
does  not  apply  to  all  of  them,  as 
many  are  too  small  to  have  been 

used  as  cutting  tools,  unless  in  cases  where  the  material  worked 
upon  was  very  yielding,  and  the  implement  was  held  in  the  hand, 
or  possibly  used  in  connection  with  a  hammer.  While  many  gouges 
have  been  collected  in  New  England  considerably  longer  than  this 
specimen,  it  is  seldom  that  they  are  wider  or  even  as  wide,  and 
therefore  this  example  may  be  fairly  considered  as  about  of  the  max- 


FIG.  31 .  —  Massachusetts. 


52  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

imum  size.  As  has  already'  been  mentioned,  these  larger  gouges, 
particularly,  vary  greatly  in  minor  details,  and  the  same  slight  differ 
ences  are  noticeable  that  have  already  been  pointed  out  as  common 
to  the  grooved  stone  axes.  As  in  that  case,  so  it  may  be  with  gouges, 
every  Indian  was  his  own  implement  maker,  and  made  the  gouge 
of  the  pattern  he  thought  would  best  serve  his  purpose. 

Of  the  gouges  of  the  Champlain  valley,  it  has  been  remarked,  that,18 
"though  not  among  our  most  abundant  specimens,  they  are  yet  rela 
tively  quite  common,  and  of  an  almost  endless  variety  of  form.  That 
all  of  these  grooved  implements  were  used  as  gouges  is  very  doubtful. 
Of  some  of  the  specimens  I  have  found  it  impossible  to  do  more  than 
conjecture  the  use.  None  of  the  objects  found  are  more  carefully 
formed  and  finely  finished  than  some  of  these  'gouges,'  and  most  of 
them  are  far  more  carefully  made  than  the  '  chisels '  or  celts.  Some  of 
the  larger  specimens  are  a  foot  in  length,  of  basalt  or  other  hard  stone, 
but  yet  are  made  with  a  degree  of  skill,  as  exhibited  in  the  symmetry 
of  form  and  smoothness  of  surface,  that  excite  great  admiration. 
In  some  the  groove  is  deep  and  wide,  and  reaches  from  end  to  end, 
each  end,  in  some  cases,  being  ground  to  an  edge,  in  others  it  is  short. 
Some  are  flat  on  both  sides,  others  on  one,  others  convex  on  both. 
Some  have  one  edge  finished  like  a  gouge  and  the  opposite  like  a 
chisel,  and  in  these  the  gouge  end  is  flatter  than  usual  and  the  exca 
vated  portion  but  little  concave.  Some  are  of  such  soft  material, 
steatite,  that  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  they  could  have  been  of  much 
service  as  implements,  but  most  are  of  hard  stone.  Several  long 
'gouges'  have  been  found  which  are  somewhat  peculiar  in  form.  All 
of  these  are  very  finely  made ;  in  cross  section  they  are  shaped  like 
a  narrow  Gothic  arch,  the  point  coming  opposite  the  groove,  or,  in 
such  as  have  only  a  short  groove,  the  portion  above  this  may  be  nearly 
cylindrical."  In  this  communication  reference  also  is  made  to  two 
gouges,  measuring,  respectively,  eighteen  and  nineteen  inches. 

Fig.  32  represents  a  second  example  of  New  England  stone  gouge, 

18  Perkins,  Amer.  Naturalist,  Vol.  xiii,  p.  744. 


CELTS,  CHISELS  AND  GOUGES. 


53 


which   has   two   very  marked 
differences  from   the    preced 
ing.     In  this  case,  instead  of 
the  two  transverse  ridges  near 
the  upper  end  of  the  imple 
ment,  there  is  a  flattened  ob 
lique  stem  or  projection  form 
ing    the    head  of  the   gouge, 
and  the  blade  is  wider  at  the 
broad  cutting  edge  with  which 
it  terminates,  than  at  any  other 
part.      The   curvature  of  this 
cutting    edge   is  very  pro 
nounced,  and  it  is  sufficiently 
sharp,  even  now,  to  make  the 
implement   a   very  good  tool 
for  the  purposes  for  which  it 
was  intended.    The  projection 
at  the  head  does  not  afford  a 
surface   of  sufficient  width  to 
enable  one  to  use  a  hammer ; 
and  it  is  safe  to  suppose  that, 
when  made  after  this  pattern, 
they  were  intended  for  remov 
ing  such  yielding  material    as 
charred   wood,    and    not    for 
cutting  wood  in    its    natural 
state.      Whilst    there    is    a 
great    variation   in   the    finish 
of  the  heads  of  these  gouges, 
it  is  seldom    that   we   meet 
with    one    of   this  peculiar 
pattern.      Indeed,    the    form 
is    not    particularly    desira- 


FIG.  32.  — Massachusetts.    •{- 


54 


PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 


ble,   in  view  of  the    use  to  which  is  put  the  carpenters'  gouge  of 
to-day. 

Fig.   33   represents   an  excellent  example  of  the   simpler  form  of 

gouge,  such  as  is  more  or 
less  common  along  the  entire 
Atlantic  coast.  They  are  quite 
common  in  New  York  ;  and  in 
some  portions  of  Pennsylvania 
they  are  more  numerous  than 
the  straight-edged  celts,  or 
chisels  proper.  In  New  Jer 
sey,  this  form  of  implement  is 
not  common,  in  comparison 
with  ordinary  celts,  but  it  is 
found  in  such  numbers,  as  to 
be  generally  represented  in  all 
local  collections.  The  speci 
men  here  figured  is  made  of 
very  compact,  unyielding  sand 
stone,  and  has  been  hollowed 
out  as  deep  as  was  compatible 
with  the  strength  of  the  imple 
ment.  The  back  has  been 
quite  evenly  smoothed,  or  it 
may  have  been  worn  so  by 
long  continued  use.  At  the 
upper  end,  a  hole  has  been 
drilled  partly  through  the 
stone.  This  specimen  presents 
the  maximum  degree  of  curva 
ture  of  the  cutting  edge,  as  seen  in  these  gouges.  Of  the  very  large 
series  from  Massachusetts,  in  the  Museum  at  Cambridge,  and  at  the 
Academy  of  Science  at  Salem,  not  one  exceeded  and  but  very  few 
approached  it  in  this  respect.  From  the  worn  condition  of  the  cutting 


FIG.  33.  — Massachusetts. 


CELTS,  CHISELS  AND  GOUGES. 


55 


edge,  it  is  probable  that,  when  made,  it  projected  forward,  as  is  well 
shown  in  the  following  example,  from  New  Jersey. 

Fig.  34  represents  a  similar  plain  gouge  from  New  Jersey.  This 
specimen  differs  only  in  having  a 
projecting  or  convex  edge,  which 
makes  the  specimen  in  this  respect 
more  like  the  ordinary  celts.  It  is 
probable,  however,  as  before  sug 
gested,  that  this  was  a  common 
form  of  gouge,  and  that  the  edge 
was  gradually  worn  away  by  long 
continued  use.  Of  the  series  of 
gouges,  from  New  Jersey,  whether 
plain  or  with  worked  knob-like 
heads,  none  possessed  so  marked 
a  degree  of  curvature  of  the  blade, 
as  does  this  specimen.  It  is  not 
without  interest  to  know  that  of 
the  gouges  of  this  pattern,  that 

have  been  found  in  New  Jersey, 

all  have  the  upper  end  or  head 

badly  battered,  thus  showing  that 

they  had  been  used  with  a  maul 

or  hammer ;  whilst  those  with  a 

conical  or   otherwise    designed 

worked-head,  such  as  the   chisel 

in  fig.  30,  show  no  trace  of  any 

such   usage.      Whether    this   fact 

indicates  a  different  use  of  these 

implements,  and  hence  the  infer 
ence  that  they  are  not  gouges  in  FlG-  34- -New  Jersey,  j. 

the  ordinary  acceptation  of  that  term,  is  left  for  the  reader  to  de 
termine. 

In  the  northern  counties  of  New  Jersey,  and  about  the  region  of 


5°  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

the  Delaware  Water  Gap  there  is  frequently  found  a  pattern  of  gouge 
or  chisel,  as  the  case  may  be,  which  is  strictly  an  intermediate 
form.  It  is  made  of  compact  stone,  is  well  polished,  and  has  a 
straight  cutting  edge  which  is  bounded  by  a  narrow  rim  upon  each 
side,  extending  at  right  angles  to  the  blade.  It  is  not  apparent  what 
advantage  arises  from  these  narrow  boundary  ridges,  if  the  implement 
is  a  chisel,  such  as  is  now  used ;  and  the  slightly  elevated  edges  of 
the  sides  of  the  blade  scarcely  convert  the  implement  into  a  gouge 
proper. 


UNIVERSITY 


CHAPTER    IV 


GROOVED  HAMMERS. 


IN  an  attempted  classification  of  stone  implements,  there  is  often 
great  danger  of  making  a  distinction  where  no  difference  exists.  This 
is  particularly  true  of  the  grooved  globular  pebbles  and  small  bowlders, 
that  are  so  common  throughout  the  whole  extent  of  the  Atlantic 
coast.  Examples  of  these,  of  a  small  size  and  carefully  worked,  have 
been  described  as  probably  "club-head"  stones.  Others,  of  ruder 
make,  as  the  natural  pebble  with  a  groove  only  worked  about  it, 
were  probably  used  in  the  same  manner  as  the  notched,  flat  pebbles. 
Besides  these,  there  are  larger  examples  of  practically  the  same  form, 
which  are  of  such  dimensions,  and,  in  some  instances,  show  such  evi 
dence  of  work,  other  than  the  pecking  out  of  an  encircling  groove,  that 
their  use  as  hammers  or  mauls  seems  to  be  indicated.  While  none 
have  been  found  in  New  Jersey,  or  throughout  New  England,  as  large 
and  as  heavy  as  the  largest  stone  mauls  from  the  Lake  Superior  copper 
regions,  they  do  occur  of  such  size  and  weight  as  render  them  avail 
able  for  all  ordinary  purposes  for  which  a  hammer  is  required.  A 
small  series  from  Gloucester  Co.,  New  Jersey,  are  hard,  silicious  peb 
bles  or  small  bowlders,  varying  from  five  to  seven  inches  in  length,  and 
three  and  one-half  inches  to  four  and  one-half  in  diameter.  None  ot 
these  are  worked  otherwise  than  by  being  grooved  or  by  having  pecked 
out  a  shallow  channel  around  them,  at  or  near  the  middle  of  the  stone. 
The  ends,  in  two  specimens,  are  slightly  battered,  as  though  used  for 
hammering  substances  equally  as  hard  as  the  mineral  of  which  they 
are  made.  The  others  show  no  trace  of  usage. 

Stone  hammers  of  this  character,  but  of  beautiful  workmanship, 
having  wholly  artificial  surfaces,  and  the  groove  protected  by  a  narrow, 

(57) 


5  8  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

slightly  elevated  ridge  have  been  obtained  from  Indian  graves  in 
Kansas.  A  series  of  these  are  contained  in  the  collections  of  the 
Museum  of  Archaeology,  at  Cambridge,  Mass. 

Figure  35  represents  the  more  usual  shape  and  size  of  these  stone 
hammers,  as  we  find  them  in  New  Jersey.  This  specimen  is  exactly 
five  inches  in  length.  It  was  originally  of  the  ordinary  oval  outline 
so  common  to  the  cobble-stones  of  the  river-bed,  and  afterward  pecked 
at  the  head  to  make  it  flatter.  It  has  a  very  shallow  groove  pecked  ir 
regularly  about  it ;  the  dressing  down  was  apparently  more  with  a  view 
to  obliterate  projecting  angles  than  to  secure  a  depression  or  groove 
for  the  handle-fastenings.  At  the  end  or  point  there  is  a  small  pecked 


FIG.  35.  —  New  Jersey.    j. 

surface  which  may  have  been  intended  to  produce  a  blunter  end,  or 
caused  by  hammering  upon  other  stones,  as  in  using  the  stone  chisel 
or  gouge. 

Fig.  36  represents  a  natural  pebble  which,  being  grooved  already, 
was  utilized  as  a  hammer.  The  circumstances  under  which  it  was 
found  are  the  only  reasons  for  placing  it  with  the  grooved  hammers. 
It  was  associated  with  a  number  of  arrowheads  and  other  objects, 
and  the  assumption  is,  that,  like  them,  it  had  been  placed  where 
found,  by  the  Indians.  So  admirably  shaped  is  this  stone,  that,  could 
they  be  readily  obtained,  there  would  be  no  incentive  to  make  and 
groove  less  shapely  pebbles,  for  in  no  respect  is  this  specimen  inferior 
to  the  others. 


GROOVED    HAMMERS. 


59 


Fig.  3  7  represents  an  unaltered  pebble,  that  has  been  grooved ; 
and  thus,  it  is  supposed,  converted  into  a  hammer.  In  the  preceding 
examples,  the  length  and  diameter  of  the  pebbles  have  been  more 
nearly  equal  than  in  this  instance.  Here  we  have  a  flatter  pebble, 
and  one  that  needs  but  a 
cutting  edge  at  one  end,  to 
make  it  a  good  example  of 
a  common  form  of  axe. 
The  absence  of  this  edge, 
unless  it  can  be  shown  that 
it  is  an  unfinished  axe,  in 
dicates  its  use  as  a  hammer, 
or  possibly  the  head  of  a 
club-like  weapon.  This 
specimen  is  seven  inches  in 
length,  three  inches  wide  in  the  middle,  and  tapers  quite  uniformly 
to  the  narrowed  ends.  The  ends  are  not  battered,  nor  is  there  any 
trace  of  use  of  any  kind  to  be  seen.  As  a  weapon,  such  an  im 
plement  would  long  preserve  its  natural  surface  uninjured  and 


FIG.  36.  —  New  Jersey.     5. 


FIG.  37.  —  New  Jersey.     \. 

unmarked.     If  used  as  a  maul,   in  connection  wirh  a  stone  gouge, 
the  surfaces  would  soon  become  battered. 

Fig.  38  represents  a  peculiar  pattern  of  stone  hammer,  in  which  we 
have   the    hammer-head   and   the   handle,    in   one.     This   so-called 


6o 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


"handle"   is   a  continuation  of  the   head,   but   has   been  pecked, 
ground  and  chipped,  until  it  is  cylindrical.     While  the  outline  is  that 

of  a  hammer,  it  is  not  im 
probable  that  it  was  used  as  a 
pestle,  although  the  end  is 
not  battered  or  worn  in  any 
way. 

The  "  head  "  varies  con 
siderably  in  thickness,  and  on 
that  side  projecting  from  the 
handle  is  quite  narrow,  and 
has  the  appearance  of  having 
been  chipped ;  or,  possibly, 
this  is  the  result  of  long  con 
tinued  usage,  in  hammering 
against  stone. 

Perforated  stone  hammers, 
similar  to  those  found  in  such 
abundance  in  northern 
Europe,  are  of  rare  occur 
rence  in  North  America.  I 
know  of  but  a  single  speci 
men  of  perforated  stone  im 
plement,  which  may  be 
considered  as  probably  a 
hammer.  It  is  in  the  collec 
tion  of  the  late  Professor 
Haldeman.  This  hammer 
measures  eight  and  one-half 
inches  in  length,  by  four  in 
width.  It  is  oval  in  shape, 
and  through  the  middle  is  a  carefully  drilled  perforation,  four  and  one- 
half  inches  in  length,  and  one  inch  in  diameter.  The  stone  has  been 
pecked  over  its  entire  surface,  and  is  a  heavy,  finely  grained  sandstone 


FIG.  38.  —  New  Jersey. 


GROOVED    HAMMERS.  6 1 

pebble   from   the   bed  of  the   river.      It  was   found   near   Chickies, 
Lancaster  County,  Penna. 

Wooden  mauls,  it  would  appear,  were  sometimes  used.  Mr.  E.  W. 
Ellsworth 19  has  described  the  circumstances  of  the  discovery  of  a 
wooden  maul,  in  the  valley  of  the  Connecticut  river.  This  imple 
ment  is  twenty-one  inches  in  length.  "  Length  of  head,  eleven  and 
one-fourth  inches ;  length  of  handle,  nine  and  three-fourths  inches ; 
diameter  of  the  head  measuring  in  a  plane  coincident  with  the  curve 
of  the  handle,  five  inches."  This  specimen  shows  two  indented  and 
battered  surfaces.  "  Professor  Rau  has  suggested  that  the  mallet  was 
used  for  driving  stone  celts.  This  is  probable,  both  from  the  form  and 
position  of  the  indentations  in  the  mallet." 

19  Ellsworth.     Smithsonian  Annual  Report  for  1876,  p.  446,  fig.  i. 


CHAPTER     V. 


SEMILUNAR   SLATE    KNIVES. 


IT  is  proposed  to  consider  here,  a  class  of  knife-like  implements, 
which,  from  their  shape,  have  been  designated  as  Semilunar  Slate 
knives.  Throughout  New  England,  and  as  far  south  as  Maryland, 
these  knives  occur  with  more  or  less  frequency,  as  the  localities  happen 
to  be  rich,  or  are  wanting,  in  the  ordinary  patterns  of  Indian  stone 
implements. 

A  typical  knife  of  this  form  may  be  briefly  described  as  a  thin, 
broad  blade,  of  about  six  inches  in  length,  and  two  in  greatest  breadth, 
the  cutting  edge  being  curved,  and  extending  from  end  to  end  of  the 
blade,  thus  making  it  semilunar  in  outline.  As  a  rule  there  extends, 
along  the  back,  a  narrow,  thick  ridge  of  uniform  width,  which  affords 
a  convenient  and  secure  hold,  when  the  knife  is  taken  in  hand. 

In  New  Jersey,  these  knives,  now  usually  much  broken,  are  not 
uncommon  on  former  Indian  village  sites ;  but  in  other  localities,  or 
singly  scattered  about  our  fields,  they  are  seldom  or  never  found. 
Whatever  may  have  been  the  use  to  which  they  were  put,  their  shape 
certainly  indicates  that  they  were  a  domestic  implement,  a  household 
knife,  for  cutting  flesh  or  equally  yielding  substances  ;  and  not  such  a 
knife  as  the  men  would  carry  with  them. 

These  knives  possess  an  additional  interest  from  the  fact  that  they  are 
a  well-known  form  of  cutting  implement  of  the  Eskimo  and  Alaskan 
Indians.  In  the  archaeological  collections  of  the  museum  at  Cam 
bridge,  are  two  specimens  (P.  M.  Nos.  2053-54)  of  this  form  of 
knife,  each  with  a  blade  of  slate  inserted  in  a  wooden  handle.  Except 
that  the 'handle  is  of  another  material,  they  differ  in  no  respect, 

(63) 


64  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

Knives  of  this  pattern,  made  of  iron  and  ivory  by  the  Eskimos  of 
Cumberland  Sound,  have  been  described  by  Ludwig  Kumlein,  in  the 
Bulletin  (No.  15)  of  the  U.  S.  National  Museum.  This  author  says: 
"  The  favorite  and  principal  tool  of  the  women  is  a  knife,  shaped  like 
an  ordinary  mincing  knife.  Nearly  all  the  Cumberland  Eskimo  have 
now  procured  iron  enough  from  some  source  or  other  so  that  they  can 
have  an  iron  knife  of  this  pattern.  Before  they  could  procure  enough 
iron  they  made  the  knife  of  ivory,  and  merely  sank  flakes  or  pieces  of 
iron  into  the  edge,  in  the  same  manner  as  the  natives  of  North  Green 
land  do  at  the  present  time.  This  same  practice  of  sinking  iron  flakes 
into  the  edge  was  also  used  on  their  large  skinning-knives,  which  were 
made  from  a  walrus  tusk,  and  much  after  the  pattern  of  an  ordinary 
steel  butcher-knife.  Some  of  these  ivory  knives  have  no  iron  in  them  ; 
but  at  the  present  time  they  are  used  principally,  if  not  entirely,  for 
cutting  snow  and  removing  ice  from  their  kyacks. 

"  The  women  seldom  use  any  other  kind  of  knife  than  such  as  just 
described.  With  them  they  remove  the  blubber  from  the  skin,  split 
skins,  cut  up  meat,  and  when  sewing  this  instrument  is  used  instead 
of  scissors.  They  begin  a  garment  by  sewing  together  two  pieces  of 
skin  and  shaping  them  as  they  go  along  by  means  of  the  knife,  cutting 
for  an  inch  or  two  and  then  sewing.  They  always  push  the  knife  from 
them  when  working  it." 

As  these  semilunar  knives  are  more  abundant  in  New  England  than 
in  the  middle  states,  and  do  not  appear  to  have  been  in  use  among 
the  southern  coast  tribes,  it  is  probable  that  the  pattern  was  derived 
from  the  Eskimo  with  whom  the  northern  Algonkins  were  frequently 
in  contact. 

Fig.  39  represents  a  fine  example  of  these  slate  knives,  such  as  are 
found  in  the  localities  mentioned.  It  was  ploughed  up  in  a  field 
bordering  on  Crosswick's  creek,  Burlington  Co.,  New  Jersey,  in  which 
locality  not  only  scores  of  ordinary  axes,  knives  and  arrowheads  have 
been  found,  but  fragments  of  at  least  thirty  different  specimens  of  this 
pattern  of  knife.  They  were  about  equally  divided  between  such  as 


SEMILUNAR    SLATE    KNIVES. 


were  perfectly  plain,  as  in  this  instance,  and  such  as  were  ornamented 

with  incised  lines  of  various 

patterns  on  the  sides  of  the 

dorsal  ridge  or  back  of  the 

knife. 

This  specimen,  fig.  39,  is 
made  from  a  slab  of  com 
pact,  fine-grained  yellowish 
slate,  or,  more  properly, 
clay-slate,  and  has  been  at 
one  time,  highly  polished. 
Portions  of  this  polished 
surface  are  still  to  be  seen 
in  one  or  two  places.  Fig. 
39  measures  six  inches  in 
length  at  the  back,  and  the 
blade,  which  is  one-fourth 
of  an  inch  thick,  is  an  inch 
and  a  half  wide  at  the 
widest  portion.  Thence, 
towards  each  end,  it  de 
scribes  a  curve  and  de 
creases  in  width. 

These  knives,  of  which 
so  many  are  found  in  New 
England,  have  been  so  well 
described  in  detail  by  Prof. 
F.  W.  Putnam,  in  the  "Bul 
letin  of  the  Essex  Institute" 
of  Salem,  Mass.,  that  we 
quote  his  remarks  in  full. 

"Many  beautiful  cutting 
implements  have  been  found 


FIG.  39.  —  New  Jersey,    -j-. 


in  various  countries,  especially  in  North  America.     Schoolcraft,  in  his 
5 


66  PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 

extended  work  on  the  Indian  tribes,  figures  several  fine  specimens, 
notably  the  one  represented  on  plate  45,  figures  i  to  3  (vol.  ii),  found 
at  Hartford,  Washington  county,  N.  Y.,  which  he  states  to  be  carved 
from  a  piece  of  green  serpentine.  This  knife  is  somewhat  sickle- 
shaped,  five  and  three-quarters  inches  long,  with  a  curved  triangular 
blade  descending  from  a  well  formed  rounded  handle.  Schoolcraft 
also  figures  (vol.  ii,  pi.  49,  fig.  4)  a  cutting  implement  with  a  blade 
five  and  three-quarters  inches  long  by  an  inch  in  width.  The  figure 
shows  a  thickened  portion  answering  for  a  back  or  handle.  This 
specimen  was  found  in  Genesee  Co.,  N.  Y.  The  drawing  is,  however, 
very  poorly  executed  and  the  description  is  so  brief  as  to  leave  us  in 
doubt  as  to  the  exact  character  of  the  implement.  The  specimen 
figured  on  his  plate  50,  figures  5  and  6  (vol.  ii),  under  the  title  of 
'fragment  of  a  blade  of  a  battle-axe,'  and  described  as  made  of  si- 
licious  slate,  is  far  too  thin  and  fragile  an  implement  for  a  battle-axe, 
and  is  more  likely  another  form  of  slate  knife,  perhaps  having  two 
symmetrical  blades,  through  the  centre  of  which  (the  figure  shows  a 
broken  groove,  which  may  represent  a  hole  drilled  through  the 
centre  of  the  blades)  a  wooden  handle  was  inserted. 

"Squier  and  Davis  in  their  work  on  the  'Ancient  Monuments  of 
the  Mississippi  Valley/  p.  216,  give  a  small  woodcut  of  a  semi- 
lunar-shaped  knife,  which  they  state  is  a  form  '  occasionally  found  in 
the  Eastern  states.  They  are  sometimes  composed  of  slate,  and  are 
of  various  sizes,  often  measuring  five  or  six  inches  in  length.  They 
are  well  adapted  for  flaying  animals,  and  for  other  analogous  purposes.' 
Their  figure  represents  a  knife  of  the  same  shape  as  the  one  here  en 
graved  (fig.  40). 

"Of  these  semilunar  knives,  I  have  seen  quite  a  number  of  specimens 
in  various  collections,  but  thus  far  all,  as  stated  by  Squier  and  Davis, 
have  been  from  the  Eastern  states.  In  the  Peabody  Museum  of  Ar 
chaeology,  at  Cambridge,  there  are  several  of  this  form,  one  of  which 
is  about  eight  inches  long  and  is  labelled  '  Paring  Knife,  Amoskeag 
Falls,  1795.' 

"The  one  represented  here  as  fig.  i  (Fig.  40)  is  beautifully  finished 


SEMILUNAR   SLATE    KNIVES. 


and  perfect.  It  was  found  in  Salem  and  placed  in  the  Museum  of  the 
East  India  Marine  Society.  It  is  not  quite  five  inches  in  length  and 
is  a  little  less  than  two  inches  in  greatest  depth  of  blade  and  back. 
The  back  is  about  half  an  inch  in  depth  and  a  little  over  a  quarter  of 
an  inch  in  width  at  the  centre, 
narrowing  at  the  ends,  per 
fectly  flat  above.  The  blade 
is  one-fifth  of  an  inch  thick 
along  the  under  side  of  the 
thick  back;  it  is  gradually 
thinned  out  to  the  cutting 
edge  all  round,  which  is  only 
one-tenth  of  an  inch  thick 
about  one-fifth  of  an  inch  from 
its  outer  margin,  which  is 
evenly  and  nicely  brought  to 
a  sharp  cutting  edge.  The 
engraving  shows  the  shape  of 
the  knife  better  than  words 
will  describe  it.  It  will  be 
noticed  that  the  blade  is 
slightly  more  pointed  at  one 
extreme  than  at  the  other. 
The  material  is  a  gray  slate 
having  several  fine  veins  of  a 
harder  substance  (quartz?)  as 
shown  in  the  engraving :  it  is 
quite  ornamented  with  several 
dark  wavy  lines,  light  streaks 
and  bands,  and  a  number  of 
irregular  wavy  lines  of  a  red 

.  .  .  . .     , .  FIG.  40.  —  Massachusetts.    4-. 

mineral  running  in  all  di 
rections  over  the   surface,   but   not   indicated  in   the  engraving. 


68  PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 

"Another  specimen,  also  received  by  the  Academy  from  the  East 
India  Marine  Society  Museum,  was  found  on  the  farm  in  Danvers 
formerly  owned  by  Governor  Endicott.  This  specimen  consists  of 
about  one-half  of  the  knife,  and  was  evidently,  when  perfect,  about 
six  inches  long  and  two  and  a  quarter  deep.  It  was  made  of  a  slate 
very  much  like  the  Salem  specimen,  but  without  the  dark  and  red 
veins  and  mottlings." 

Although  these  knives  are  made  of  a  material  readily  obtained  and 
easily  worked,  they  were  not  always  discarded,  when  they  chanced 
to  get  broken  in  halves.  Many  of  them  had  the  broken  end  ground 
down  to  a  smooth  blunt  edge,  and  the  cutting  edge  slightly  ground 
away  at  the  same  end,  and  thus  a  new  knife  was  made  out  of  half  of 
an  old  one,  which  was  almost  as  good  as  the  original,  for  the  purposes 
for  which  such  knives  were  made.  It  is  evident,  however,  that  these 
knives  were  thrown  aside,  when  others  of  metal  were  obtained,  as 
the  appearances  of  the  fractured  edges  of  such  as  we  now  find  indi 
cate  that  they  have  been  broken  or  crushed,  as  by  the  tread  of  a  horse, 
in  comparatively  recent  times. 

Fig.  41  represents  "a  knife  of  dark  talcose  slate  which  is  unlike 
any  other  that  I  have  seen.  It  was  found  near  the  church  in  Putnam- 
ville  (Danvers),  Mass,  and  is  thus  of  marked  interest  to  us  as  a  relic  from 
Essex  county.  It  is  slightly  over  five  inches  in  length,  and  about  one 
and  one-half  inches  in  depth  at  its  centre.  It  is  worked  to  a  rounded 
point  at  each  end,  as  shown  by  the  engraving,  and  the  smooth  cutting 
edge  is  from  point  to  point.  The  greatest  thickness  of  the  blade  is 
one-fifth  of  an  inch.  The  back  of  the  knife  is  ground  off  to  quite  a 
thin  edge,  but  evidently  was  never  sharpened  to  form  a  cutting  edge, 
though  the  back  is  so  thin  as  to  render  its  being  held  in  the  hand  an 
uncomfortable  matter  while  using  the  knife  in  this  way ;  and  the  three 
holes  that  have  been  rudely  cut,  apparently  by  scraping  backwards  and 
forwards  with  a  pointed  stone,  on  both  sides,  until  a  hole  was  made, 
are  evidence  that  the  knife  was  mounted  on  a  handle  by  passing  bands 
through  the  holes  and  around  the  handle,  which  was  probably  grooved 


SEMILUNAR   SLATE    KNIVES. 


69 


along  its  under  side  to  fit  over  the  sharp  back  of  the  knife.  In  com 
mon  with  the  other  slate  knives,  this  specimen  was  finished  with  care 
and  is  perfectly  smooth  and  well  sharpened  along  its  cutting  edge. 

"  Evans,  in  his  instructive  work  on 
the  'Ancient  Stone  Implements  of 
Great  Britain/  mentions  (p.  311)  that 
in  some  Esquimaux  knives  the  blade 
is  tied  to  a  wooden  back  by  a  cord 
which  2^>asses  through  a  hole  in  the 
blade. 

It  would  thus  seem  that  our  New 
England  Indians,  for  to  them  I  think 
we  must  look  as  the  makers  and 
owners  of  the  knives  I  have  specially 
described,  were  not  satisfied  with  using 
simple  flakes  of  stone  and  broken  arrow 
and  spearheads  for  knives,  but  that 
with  them  as  with  us  to-day  there 
were  many,  and  often  elaborate,  styles 
of  this  most  useful  implement,  and 
who  can  say  that  to  possess  a  good 
knife  was  not  as  much  the  ambition  of 
the  men  of  the  departed  race  as  it  is 
with  those  who  have  succeeded  them  ?" 

As  will  be  noticed,  by  referring  to 
the  introductory  remarks  on  these 
knives,  as  a  class,  I  do  not  agree  with 
the  conclusion  in  the  above  quotation. 
The  New  England  Indians,  as  well  as 
those  in  New  Jersey  and  elsewhere, 
had  better  knives  for  ordinary  pur 
poses,  than  these  of  slate. 

Another  specimen,  fig.  42,  "is 
nearly  perfect,  one  end  only  being  broken  off,  as  shown  in  the  figure. 


FIG.  41  — Massachusetts. 


70  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

Allowing  for  this  missing  fragment  the  knife  was  about  seven  inches 
long  :  the  back  is  three-quarters  of  an  inch  deep  and  the  blade  about 
one  and  one-half  inches.  The  thickness  of  the  blade  in  the  centre  is 
about  three-tenths  of  an  inch.  The  peculiar  workmanship  of  the 
back,  as  shown  in  the  section,  in  the  form  of  a  series  of  uneven 
knobs,  was  probably  intended  to  give  firmness  to  the  hold  when 
grasped  by  the  hand.  This  specimen  was  found  in  a  sand  deposit 
near  Kingston  Falls,  Kingston,  New  Hampshire." 

A  finish  very  similar  to  that  on  the  back  of  these  slate  knives  is 
seen  in  some  of  the  fragmentary  specimens  from  New  Jersey,  now  in 
the  archaeological  Museum,  at  Cambridge,  Mass.  Upon  one  of  them  is 
a  series  of  lines  similar  to  those  upon  the  illustration  of  the  New  Hamp 
shire  knife.  These  etched  or  graved  lines  are,  in  some  instances,  upon 


FIG.  42.  —  New  Hampshire.     J. 

so  limited  a  portion  of  the  back,  that  they  can  scarcely  be  considered  as 
ornamental ;  and  it  seems  not  unreasonable  to  consider  them  as  marks 
indicative  of  ownership. 

Fig.  43  represents  a  most  remarkable  form  of  these  slate  knives, 
which,  although  of  more  than  ordinary  rude  finish,  has  certain  peculi 
arities  which  are  of  great  interest.  These  striking  features  consist  of  a 
series  of  etchings  and  deeply  incised  lines  of  perhaps  no  meaning. 
Taken  in  order,  it  will  be  noticed  that  at  the  back  of  the  knife  are 
four  short  lines  at  uniform  distances  apart,  and  a  fifth,  near  the  end  of 
the  implement.  Besides  these  are  fifteen  shorter  parallel  lines,  near 
the  broader  end  of  the  knife  and  about  the  middle  of  the  blade.  A 
series  of  five  zigzag  lines  are  also  cut  on  the  opposite  end  of  the  blade. 
Is  it  possible  that  such  simple  markings  can  have  been  intended  as 


SEMILUNAR    SLATE    KNIVES.  71 

mere  ornamentation?      However  "primitive"    the  mind  of  the  red 


FIG.  43.  —  New  Jersey.     -J- . 

men  of  North  America  may  have  been,  in  times  prior  to  the  advent  of 


72  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

Europeans  on  this  continent,  it  is  difficult  to  imagine  that  their  ideas 
of  ornament  and  decoration  should  have  been  so  crude  as  to  be  satis 
fied  with  slight  and  inconspicuous  scratches.  Nor  does  it  accord  with 
their  evident  appreciations  of  symmetry  and  elements  of  beauty, 
which  we  see  in  various  specimens  of  their  handiwork.  Hands  skilled 
in  the  production  of  faultlessly  designed  celts,  and  of  animal  sculpture, 
such  as  the  bird-shaped  objects  figured  in  another  chapter,  could  never 
have  intended  such  simple  devices  as  those  upon  this  knife  blade 
as  an  attempt  at  ornamentation.  Setting  aside,  then,  this  explanation 
of  their  meaning,  it  may  reasonably  be  asked,  have  they  any  other 
meaning?  That  they  have  is  more  than  probable,  though  what  that 
meaning  is  remains  to  be  determined.  More  prominent  than  the 
numerous  lines  to  which  reference  has  been  made,  are  the  clearly 
defined,  unmistakable  birds'  heads,  placed  midway  between  the  two 
series  of  lines.  What  they  indicate  is  of  course  a  mystery ;  but  it  is 
not  a  little  curious  that  there  were,  among  the  Lenni  Lenape  or 
Delaware  Indians,  three  grand  clans  or  principal  divisions  of  the  nation. 
These  were,  respectively,  the  Wolves,  the  Turkeys  and  the  Turtles. 
In  the  mountainous  region  of  the  head-waters  of  the  Delaware  river, 
and  southward  to  the  Water  Gap,  the  Wolves  or  Minsi  were  in  un 
disturbed  possession  of  the  land.  Southward,  and  westward  to  the 
Susquehanna,  were  the  Turtles,  or  Unarms  ;  and  along  the  coast,  the 
Turkeys  or  Unalachtgo.  If  we  can,  by  any  allowable  use  of  the  imagi 
nation,  see  in  the  crude  attempts  at  pictorial  representation,  heads  of 
turkeys,  a  bird  once  as  abundant  in  a  wild  state,  as  it  is  now  under 
domestication,  the  inference  is  legitimate  that  the  pictures  on  the  knife 
may  have  some  reference  to  the  people,  whose  "totem  "  was  the  bird 
in  question. 

As  bearing  directly  upon  the  question  of  the  significance  of  these 
representations  of  heads  of  birds,  attention  is  here  called  to  a  shell 
disk  from  Tennessee,  fig.  44,  upon  which  are  four  figures  similar 
to  the  two  on  the  knife  from  New  Jersey.  Such  carved  shells  are 
quite  common  in  Tennessee  and  southward,  and  have  been  usually 
taken  from  graves.  Can  they  be  regarded  as  totems?  It  has 


SEMILUNAR    SLATE    KNIVES. 


73 


been  stated  of  the  Virginia  Indians,20  "of  this  shell  [cunk]  they  also 
make  round  tablets  of  about  four  inches  in  diameter,  which  they  polish 
as  smooth  as  the  other  [shell  beads,  etc.],  and  sometimes  they  etch  or 
grave  thereon  circles,  stars,  a  half-moon,  or  any  other  figure  suitable 
to  their  fancy.  These  they  wear  instead  of  medals  before  or  behind 
their  neck,  etc."  Here  we  see  a  reference  apparently  to  just  such 
shell  disks  as  fig.  44  ;  and  the  interest  in  the  reproduction  of  the  same 
figures  on  other  objects,  found  in  New  Jersey,  lies  in  the  probable  in 
dication  that  there  is,  in  the  latter,  a  trace,  at  least,  ot  tribal  relation- 


FIG.  44.  — Tennessee.    \. 

ship  with  the  southern  Indians.  Did  we  not  learn  from  the  writings 
of  Heckwelder,  that  the  Lenape  had  "the  turkey  totem,"  we  might 
suppose  that  this  drawing  of  such  bird  heads  originated  with  the  in 
trusive  southern  Shawnees,  who,  at  one  time,  occupied  lands  in  the 
Delaware  valley,  and  who  are  supposed  by  some  writers  to  have  been 
closely  related  to  the  earliest  inhabitants  of  the  southern  and  south 
western  states.  Inasmuch  as  we  shall  find  that,  not  only  on  this  slate 


20  Beverly :  "  History  and  Present  State  of  Virginia,"  Book  III,  Chapter  xii,  p.  58.    London, 
1705.     Quoted  by  (_.  C.  Jones,  jr.,  in  "  Antiquities  of  Southern  Indians." 


74  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

knife,  but  upon  a  bone  implement  also,  similar  heads  of  birds  are  en 
graved,  it  is  probable  that  the  identity  of  the  design  is  not  a  mere 
coincidence,  but  that  it  must  be  explained  either  in  accordance  with 
the  statements  of  Heckwelder,  or  be  considered  as  the  work  of 
southern  Shawnees,  after  their  arrival  in  New  Jersey.  In  the  latter 
event,  tne  theory  that  these  disks  were  the  work  of  a  people  different 
from  and  anterior  to  the  Indians  found  in  the  Cumberland  valley,  at 
the  time  of  the  discovery  of  that  region  by  the  whites  is,  apparently, 
not  sustained  by  the  facts. 


CHAPTER    VI. 


CHIPPED  FLINT  KNI\ES. 


ON  the  same  fields,  and  along  the  same  valleys  of  our  creeks  and 
rivers,  wherever  we  chance  upon  spearpoints  and  arrowheads,  there 
are  found  certain  other  chipped  implements,  equally  variable  in  size 
and  perhaps,  also,  in  shape. 

When  the  cutting  edge  is  the  one  prominent  feature,  these  objects 
are  readily  recognized  and  confidently  classed  as  "chipped  knives ;" 
but  many  others  are  found  so  like  ordinary  spearpoints,  that  it  is  not 
always  practicable  to  determine  to  which  of  the  two,  forms  they  really 
belong. 

So  readily  can  an  effective  knife  be  made,  by  striking  from  a  pebble 
a  splinter  of  stone,  that  we  wonder  why  such  great  pains  should  have 
been  taken  with  many  of  the  jasper  knives  that  we  find,  especially 
since  much  of  the  extra  labor  upon  them  was  not  for  the  improve 
ment  of  the  cutting  edge.  It  has  been  remarked  of  primitive  stone 
knives,  that  "flint,  chert,  obsidian,  any  stone  which  will  chip  easily  to 
a  sharp  edge,  will  constitute  man's  first  cutting  implement,  and  is  much 
better  adapted  to  this  use  than  we  are  wont  to  suppose.  Some  of  the 
modern  California  Indians  make  use  of  the  most  primitive  form  of 
these  implements.  Miners  of  1849  have  described  to  me  practices 
occurring  under  their  own  observation,  illustrating  the  mode  of  man 
ufacture  and  the  efficiency  of  the  crudest  cutting  tools.  The  Indian, 
without  a  knife,  would  skin  and  dress  a  deer  almost  as  quickly  as  his 
white  brother  hunter  armed  with  his  hunting  knife.  Picking  up  the 
first  thin  stone  he  could  find,  that,  under  sharp  blows  with  another 
stone,  would  flake  to  an  edge,  with  a  few  blows  he  would  bring  it  to 

(75) 


76  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

the  desired  form,  and,  commencing  his  work  with  a  drawing  motion, 
would  open  the  skin  with  great  nicety."21 

Implements  that  were  unquestionably  used  as  cutting  tools  are  no 
where  as  abundant  as  arrowheads,  but  they  seem  to  bear  such  a  relation 
ship,  in  point  of  numbers,  to  arrowheads,  as  would  be  expected  from  the 
use  of  the  two  forms.  The  one  not  being  liable  to  be  lost,  and  lasting 
perhaps  a  lifetime,  is  much  more  scarce  than  the  other  which  was  certain 
to  be  quickly  lost,  and  of  which  a  vast  number  were  necessary  even  if 
they  were  not  used  in  warfare,  as  we  well  know  was  the  case.  On 
the  other  hand,  if  we  call  every  object,  that  seems  badly  designed  for 
a  spear  or  an  arrow,  a  knife,  we  have  then  a  vast  increase  in  this  class  of 
objects  and  almost  as  many  specimens  are  found  of  one  form  as  of  the 
other.  Unless,  however,  it  is  supposed  that  knives  were  made,  used 
and  thrown  aside,  on  the  spot,  it  is  manifestly  wrong  to  consider  every 
small  spear  or  large  arrowhead  as  a  knife.  To  do  so  presupposes  a  very 
dense  population,  or  a  long  occupancy.  If  we  call  all  these  objects 
knives,  we  lessen  materially  the  number  of  arrowheads,  which  latter 
were,  necessarily,  vastly  more  abundant,  than  any  other  implement  the 
Indians  possessed. 

While  a  few  spearlike  forms  have  been  classed  as  knives,  for  reasons 
mentioned,  it  is  by  no  means  certain  that  they  were  not  quite  as  much 
in  use  as  spears,  as  they  were  as  knives.  If  we  endeavor  to  picture 
the  ordinary  avocations  of  the  natives  of  our  coast,  especially  before 
the  arrival  of  European  settlers,  we  shall  find,  that  hunting  necessarily 
occupied  much  of  their  time.  The  skins  of  animals  were  the  depend 
ence  for  clothing,  and  their  flesh  with  that  of  fishes  was  an  important 
element  in  their  food-supply.  So  varied  in  size,  and  in  habits,  were 
the  mammals  they  hunted,  that  it  can  scarcely  be  doubted,  that  there 
was  in  common  use  a  greater  variety  of  hunting  implements,  than  of 
weapons  of  war,  if  indeed,  any  distinction  was  made  between  them. 
For  hunting  certain  animals,  as  well  as  for  spearing  certain  fish,  the 
Indians  doubtlessly  made  use  of  particular  patterns  of  stone  imple- 

21  M.  C.  Read,  Tract  of  Western  Reserve  Historical  Society.     No  date.     p.  12.  Ohio. 


CHIPPED    FLINT    KNIVES. 


77 


ments  which  have  been  called  spearpoints,  arrowheads  and  knives. 
So  few,  comparatively,  of  the  latter,  and  so  many  ot  the  larger  arrow 
heads  and  smallest  spears,  were  required  as  speais  fur  the  smaller 
mammals,  that  it  is  safe  to  consider,  simply  as  knives,  as  few  objects  of 
chipped  flint  as  possible,  and  to  regard  all  such  as  could  be  so  used, 
as  heads  of  spears  and  arrows. 

The  circumstances,  too,  under  which  occasional  specimens  have 
been  found,  have  a  direct  bearing 
upon  this  matter.  Chipped  im 
plements  that  seem  ill  adapted 
for  use  as  arrowheads,  have  been 
found,  in  one  instance,  deeply 
embedded  in  a  lumbar  vertebra 
of  an  elk,  and  a  small  blunt 
spear  forced  into  the  shoulder- 
blade  of  a  bear.  These  in 
stances  suggest  the  use  of  a  bow 
and  arrow  rather  than  a  spear. 
Certainly  they  do  not  indicate 
their  use  as  knives.  A  third  in 
stance  is  known  of  an  indiffer 
ently  chipped  and  scarcely  a 
pointed  arrowhead,  being  found 
in  the  very  centre  of  a  large  white 
oak.  It  had  evidently  pierced 
the  tree,  when  a  sapling ;  and, 
remaining  in  the  tree,  had  been 
in  time  enclosed  by  its  growth.  When  felled,  the  tree  measured  near'y 
five  feet  in  diameter.  How  unlikely  is  it  that  this  implement  used  as 
a  knife  had  been  left  sticking  in  a  tree  ! 

Fig.  45  represents  an  excellent  example  of  what  may  be  considered 
a  typical  chipped  flint  knife.  That  it  is  a  cutting  tool  alone  s  evident. 
Whether  held  in  the  hand,  by  grasping  the  implement  as  it  is,  or 
whether  it  had  a  wooden  or  bone  back,  into  which  the  more  irregular 


FIG.  45.  —  New  Jersey,    -p 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 


margin  was  inserted,  is  not  evident,  from  any  peculiarity  of  the  speci 
men  ;  but  that  the  hand  was  protected  in  some  way  from  the  jagged 
back  of  the  knife  is  very  probable. 

Knives  of  this  pattern  are  of  common  occurrence  in  all  parts  of  the 
country,  and  bear  the  same  relationship  to  the  common  forms  of 
chipped  objects  that  the  ground  celt  does  to  those  that  are  polished. 
Such  knives,  however,  are  not  always  as  coarsely  flaked  as  in  this  case. 
Those  that  are  of  a  less  wavy  surface,  and  crooked  edge,  have  no  ad- 
Vantage  as  mere  cutting  tools.  That 
they  were  much  used,  except  for  skin 
ning  and  dismembering  animals,  is 
very  improbable. 

In  the  limitation  made  in  this  chap 
ter,  fig.  45  is  considered  as  a  knife 
proper  and  is  of  about  the  maximum 
size.  Those  of  the  size  of  fig.  46  are 
much  more  common.  This  specimen, 
which  strongly  suggests  the  blocked- 
out  arrowhead,  is  a  most  common 
object  on  all  village  sites,  and  wherever 
ordinary  forms  of  stone  implements  are 
found. 

In  some  localities,  as  in  the  im 
mediate  vicinity  of  inland  ponds,  and  for  short  distances  along 
many  small  streams,  often  a  hundred  or  more  of  these  knives 
will  be  found  scattered  over  the  ground.  When  a  number  are 
thus  found  together,  they  are  very  uniform  in  chipping,  and  present 
a  great  similarity  to  figures  46  and  47.  When,  further,  it  is  noticed 
that  they  were  all  apparently  made  from  the  same  bowlder,  it  be 
comes  evident  that,  for  some  given  purpose,  and  probably  by  some 
one  person,  a  quantity  of  knives  were  made,  and  used  by  the  little 
community,  which  often  has  left  scarcely  any  other  trace  of  its 
ancient  sojourn  on  the  spot. 

Fig.  48  represents  a  common  form  of  knife,  that  also  bears  a  strong 


FIG.  46. — New  Jersey.     •}-. 


CHIPPED    FLINT    KNIVES. 


79 


resemblance  to  an  unfinished   leaf-shaped  arrowhead.      Were    such 

implements  gathered  from  the  refuse,  left  where  arrowheads  have  been 

made,   it   would    be    looked    upon    as 

simply  a  discarded  specimen  ;  but  when 

we  find  them  singly,  whatever  may  have 

been  their  origin,  it  is  presumable  that 

they  were  used  as  knives.     Many  show 

indications   of  use    by  a    striation    and 

semi-polish  of  the  surface;  when  this  is 

found,  it  is  evidence  that,  to  some  ex 
tent,    they  were  used   as   knives.     The 

width,   in  comparison  with  the  length, 

and  the  obtuse  point,  presuming  this  to 

be  a  finished  implement,  clearly  indicate 

that  they  could  have  had  no  other  use 

than  that  of  knives. 

Fig.  49  represents  a  flint  knife  from 

California,  to  which  attention  is  called, 

in   connection  with   the   descriptions  of  the  preceding  examples  of 

chipped  implements,  figs.  45-48,  which  have  been  considered  as 
cutting  tools.  This  California  specimen  is 
a  flake  of  striped  jasper  or  hornstone,  which 
has  been  detached  by  a  single  blow.  The 
surface  shows  no  trace  of  secondary  chip 
ping,  except  at  the  very  edge,  which  has 
been  slightly  modified  by  the  removal  of  a 
series  of  minute  chips.  The  cutting  edges 
are  not  sharp,  nor  the  point  acute.  At 
the  base,  there  still  remains  much  of  the 
asphaltum  used  in  securing  a  handle  to  the 
specimen.  These  handles  were  usually  of 
wood.  (See  Vol.  VII,  of  Geographical 

Survey  of  U.  S.,  West  of    looth  Meridian,  from  which  volume  this 

illustration  is  taken.) 


FIG.  47.  —  New  Jersey. 


FIG.  48.  — New  Jersey,    -f. 


So 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 


While  asphaltum  was  not  known  to  the  Atlantic  coast  tribes,  they 
still  had  an  abundance  of  glue  of  excellent  quality,  and  it  is  quite 
probable  that  such  knives  as  figures  45  to  48,  inclusive,  were  hafted  in 
much  the  same  manner,  as  the  specimen  represented  in  fig.  49. 

In  fig.  50  we  have  the  highest  type  of  these  oval  knives,  and  an 
excellent  example  of  the  dexterity  acquired  in  chipping  flint  to  any 
desired  form. 


FIG.  49.  —  California,     j. 

As  compared  with  such  as  have  just  been  considered,  these  knives  are 
not  abundant  in  New  Jersey ;  and  they  are  comparatively  rare  through 
out  New  England,  except  in  the  Connecticut  valley  where  they  are  quite 
common.  In  Ohio,  these  knives  are  more  abundant  than  along  our 
seaboard,  and  there,  they  are  usually  made  of  the  bluish  hornstone  so 
characteristic  of  the  best  examples  of  flint  chipping  found  in  that  state 


CHIPPED    FLINT   KNIVES. 


8l 


The  New  Jersey  examples  of  this  pattern,  which  vary  much  in  size, 
although  not  generally  larger  than  fig.  49,  have  been  found  mostly  on 
the  banks  of  the  Passaic  and  Hackensack  rivers,  in  the  eastern  part  of 
the  state  ;  and,  as  in  many  other  localities,  they  have  been  considered 
as  "  fish-knives,"  for  no  other  reason,  apparently,  than  that  they  were 
found   in   the   immediate  vicinity  of 
the  rivers.     There  is  some  danger  of 
being  misled,  in  thus  naming  an  im 
plement  from   the    character  of  the 
locality  where  it  was  found,  because 
villages  were  invariably  situated  near 
or  on  the  very  banks  of  all  our  rivers, 
and    especially    at    such    points    as 
afforded    favorable    opportunities  for 
fishing.     In  such  localities,  therefore, 
all  the  stone  implements  used  by  the 
Indians   are  likely  to  be  found,  and 
great  care  must  be  exercised  in  draw 
ing  inferences  from  the  mere  position 
of  an  implement  when  found,  or  from 
the  nature  of  the  locality,  in  which  it 
was    discovered.      That  such  knives 
as  fig.   50   are  admirably  adapted  to 
cutting  and   scaling  fish   is    unques 
tionable  ;  but  until  they  are  found  so 
associated  with  other  objects,  and  in 
kitchen    middens   where    fish-bones 
characterize  the  heap,    it  cannot  be 
shown   that  they  were   designed  for 
a  particular  purpose,  but  rather  were  applied  to  all  the  ordinary  uses 
of  such  articles. 

Figs.  51  and  52  represent  other  forms  of  these  broad-bladed  knives, 
which  are  comparatively  common  throughout  the  length  and  breadth 
of  the  land.  The  fact  that  the  sharp  and  carefully  worked  margins 


FIG.  50.  — New  Jersey.    -J-. 


82 


PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 


are  the  prominent  feature  of  such  implements  leads  very  naturally  to 
the  inference  that  they  were  used  as  cutting  tools. 

Fig.  51  appears  to  have  had  a  short  drill-like  projection  at  the  upper 
end,  which  has  been  broken  off;  but  that  it  was  really  such  a  drill  is 
not  evident.  It  bears,  however,  a  close  resemblance  to  certain  perfor 
ators  or  combined  drills  and  knives. 

Fig.  53  represents  a  beautiful  specimen  of  the  maximum  size,  of  a 


FIG.  51.  — New  Jersey,    y. 


FIG.  52. —  New  Jersey, 


class  of  chipped  implements  which  is  rarely  met  with  in  the  New 
England  states,  but  more  frequently  in  New  York  and  New  Jersey, 
particularly  on  a  much  smaller  scale,  and  then  it  is  known  as  the  trian 
gular  arrowhead. 

Like  the  long  oval  knives,  these  triangular  knives,  if  such  they  are,  are 
chipped  from  flint  or  jasper,  that  is  free  from  foreign  mineral,  and  hence 
susceptible  of  being  worked  to  a  very  sharp,  straight  edge.  The  blade 
itself  is  as  thin,  as  in  any  implement  of  its  size,  of  any  pattern. 


CHIPPED    FLINT   KNIVES. 


Were  it  not  that  dagger-like  implements  are  almost  as  abundant  as 
specimens  of  this  character,  it  would  seem  proper  to  refer  these  to  that 
class  of  weapons,  rather  than  to 
consider  them  as  knives,  or  as 
plain  spearpoints.  The  absence 
of  the  worked  base  seems  to  be 
a  sufficient  reason  for  not  con 
sidering  them  as  spears.  This 
may  be  an  error,  but  as  un 
questionable  spearpoints  are 
abundant,  and  implements  like 
fig.  53  comparatively  rare,  it  is 
quite  as  probable,  that  they  were 
used  as  knives,  possibly  for  some 
one  purpose  alone,  as  that  they 
had  any  other  significance. 

Knives  of  the  plainer  patterns, 
here  mentioned,  are  equally  abun 
dant  in  the  valley  of  the  Susque- 
hanna  river.  In  the  very  complete 
collection  of  stone  implements 
from  this  region,  made  by  the  late 
Professor  Haldeman,  are  many 
chipped  knives  of  the  size  and 
shape  of  figs.  45  and  46.  The 
majority  are  made  of  jasper,  and 
are  very  evenly  chipped;  but  a 
few  are  made  of  the  limestone  of 
the  vicinity,  and  are  admirably 
well  finished.  A  few  specimens 
of  the  highly  finished  oval,  and 
long  triangular  knives  also,  were  collected  by  him,  and  in  every  case, 
they  are  made  of  the  peculiar  bluish  hornstone  found  in  Ohio.  It 
is  probable,  therefore,  that  these  were  brought  from  that  state. 


FIG.  53.  —  New  Jersey. 


PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 


FIG.  54.  —  New 
Jereey.    j. 


This  implement,  except  in  being  somewhat  shorter,  is  of  the  same 
character  as  the  large  chipped  chert  implements  from  the  California 
coast,  figured  in  the  seventh  volume  of  the  U.  S.  Geographical  Survey, 
West  of  the  zooth  Meridian.  While  many  of  these  latter  are  fully 
double  its  length,  they  do  not  differ  in  any  other 
particular.  When  of  such  great  length,  however, 
they  could  scarcely  have  been  used  as  knives. 
Knives  of  this  pattern  have  occasionally  been  found 
in  "deposits"  of  considerable  numbers.  In  the 
museum  at  Cambridge  is  a  series  constituting  a  por 
tion  of  "  a  deposit  of  about  two  quarts,"  which  was 
ploughed  up  near  Denmark,  Lewis  Co.,  New  York. 
Those  of  the  series  sent  to  the  museum  are  all  of  a 
dull  bluish  color,  made  of  jasper  and  remarkable  for 
their  uniformity  of  size  and  finish. 

In  the  American  Naturalist,  vol.  vii,  p.  277,  a 
description  is  given  of  a  series  of  forty-two  speci 
mens  of  knives,  which  were  found  associated  with  other  implements, 
about  a  buried  fireplace.  The  knives  of  this  series  averaged  three 
and  one-half  inches  in  length  by  one  inch  in  breadth. 

Figs.  54  and  55  represent  two  characteristic  examples  of  a  class 
of  chipped  implements,  which,  being  evidently  finished,  may  safely 
be  considered  as  small  knives,  though  their  size  seems 
to  cast  a  doubt  upon  their  use  as  cutting  tools.  There 
does  not  appear  to  be  any  evidence  that  a  knife,  or 
saw-like  implement,  where  many  of  these  were  placed 
in  a  row  in  a  wooden  or  bone  handle  like  the  Aztec 
"  Macehuatl,"  or  the  shark's  tooth-sword  of  the  Pacific 
Islanders,  was  ever  used  by  the  Indians  of  the  Atlantic 
coast.  Such  implements  are  found  in  other  localities,  but 
they  are  usually  armed  simply  with  pointed  flakes  of  flint  or  obsidian. 
These  small  chipped  knives  are  all  carefully  finished,  and  are  not,  as 
now  found,  sufficiently  sharp  to  have  been  used,  collectively,  in  the 
manner  described.  Like  the  smallest  scrapers,  they  seem  to  have  had 


CHIPPED   FLINT   KNIVES. 


some  special  use,  but  what  that  was  cannot  now  be  determined.  They 
are  nowhere  very  abundant,  or  else  they  have  been  strangely  over 
looked  by  collectors.  They  have  been  found  throughout  New  Jersey, 
and  in  the  Connecticut  valley,  and  occasionally  specimens  have  been 
found  in  Massachusetts.  It  is  not  improbable  that  many  implements 
of  diminutive  size  are  supposed  to  be  of  very  rare  occurrence,  simply 
because  they  have  thus  far  escaped  notice. 

Figs.  56  and  57  represent  specimens  of  so-called  knives,  which  are 
of  quite  common   occurrence   in   some   localities.     Those   found   in 


FIG.  56.  — New  Jersey, 


FIG.  57.  —  New  Jersey. 


the  valley  of  the  Delaware  river  have  almost  invariably  been  broken 
at  the  ends,  as  shown  in  the  illustrations.  This  fracture  is  believed  to 
have  been  intentional  and  made  when  the  knives  were  chipped. 
While,  as  a  class,  they  may  be  considered  as  double-edged  knives, 
some  are  much  blunter  along  one  margin,  than  on  the  cutting  edge 
proper.  Whether  this  thicker  edge  constituted  the  back  of  the  imple 
ment,  or  was  used  for  some  purpose  other  than  cutting,  is  uncertain. 


86 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 


Professor  Perkins21  has  found  many  knives  of  this  pattern  in  the 
Champlain  valley.  He  remarks,  "  it  is  interesting  to  notice  that,  on 
both  shores  of  Lake  Champlain,  we  find  the  same  quadrangular  forms, 
broken  across  one  end,  as  those  figured  in  the  Annual  Report  of  the 

Smithsonian  Institution  for  1  8  75  ,  page  30  1  , 
figs,  in  and  112,"  and  adds,  "from  the 
appearance  of  our  specimens  I  am  in 
clined  to  agree  with  the  author  in  believ 
ing  that  the  break  was  not  accidental,  or 
rather,  I  should  think  it  more  probable 
that  the  broken  end  is  simply  the  original 
surface  of  the  block  of  flint  or  quartz  from 
which  the  knife  was  flaked,  and  while  all 
the  other  sides  were  chipped  this  was  left, 
perhaps  for  insertion  in  some  sort  of  han 
dle  of  wood  or  bone. 

We  now  come  to  consider  a  class  of 
c'hipped  flint  knives 
which  are  so  worked  in 
every  detail,  that  their 
import  cannot  be  mis 
taken. 

Figs.  58  and  59  rep- 

FIG.  58-  -New  Jersey.     \.  ^^  stemmed   knivCS 

of  jasper,   of  about   the    maximum    and   minimum 

sizes.     In  both  these  examples,  the  character  of  the 

chipping  is  such,  that  it  is  evident  that  the  imple 

ment  is  now  in  its  original   condition,  and  not  a 

re-chipped  spearpoint.     The  cutting  edge  proper  is 

supposed  to  be  the  one  on  the  left,  as  shown  in 

the  illustrations,   although  there  is  no  difference  in  the  character  of 

the  chipping  of  the  two  sides. 


FlG.  59._New  jer- 


21  Perkins,  /.  c,  p.  745. 


CHIPPED    FLINT    KNIVES. 


Fig.  59  differs  from  the  larger  specimen  in  being  a  flake,  chipped 
only  upon  the  one  side.  When  stemmed  knives  of  the  above  pattern 
are  as  small  as  fig.  59,  they  were  generally  made  of  flakes  ;  but  as  yet, 
no  flakes  as  large  as  fig.  5  8  have  been  met  with  that  were  so  used. 
That  such  will  be  found  is,  however,  very  probable. 

Knives,  thus  fashioned,  are  common  in  the  Champlain  valley,  and 
somewhat  abundant  along  the  Connecticut;  they  are  occasionally 
found  in  eastern  Massachusetts,  and  are  of  more  or  less  common 
occurrence  in  New  Jersey,  though 
they  do  not  anywhere  appear  to 
be  more  numerous  than  the  oval 
or  quadrangular  knives  already  de 
scribed. 

Fig.  60  represents  a  stemmed 
knife  that  strongly  suggests  the 
spearpoint,  and,  indeed,  it  may 
possibly  have  been  made  from  an 
implement  of  this  kind  which  had 
been  broken  near  the  point,  and 
was  rendered  of  value  again  by 
the  substitution  of  a  cutting  edge 
for  the  point  it  originally  pos 
sessed.  This  knife,  thus  made 
from  a  spearpoint,  if  it  really  were 

FIG.  60.  — New  Jersey.    1, 

so  made,  does  not  seem  so  de 
sirable  a  cutting  implement  as  the  foregoing ;  nor  is  the  cutting  edge 
as  well  wrought.  Of  a  series  of  stemmed  knives  from  New  Jersey, 
four-fifths  are  of  the  pattern  of  figs.  58  and  59,  and  the  fact  that  so 
many  were  made  directly  from  the  original  mineral,  is  somewhat  in 
dicative  of  the  fact,  that  those  resembling  spearpoints  have  also  been 
made  directly  from  the  unworked  pebble  or  bowlder  of  jasper. 

Fig.  6 1  represents  a  fourth  example  of  a  stemmed  knife  which,  if 
found  but  rarely,  would  probably  be  classed  as  an  arrowhead.  A  suf 
ficient  number  have  been  collected  from  one  limited  locality,  to  show 


'   Xg?  X-     \  'lU/v      • "  "I" i..     •;:  '  -I  »t  >  • 


88 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


FIG.  61.  — New  Jersey.    -J-. 


that  the  form  is  not  a  chance  occurrence  ;  and  the  marked  convexity  of 
one  side  and  slight  concavity  of  the  other  show  clearly,  that  the  imple 
ment  was  intended  as  a  cutting  instrument,  and  not  as  an  arrowhead. 
All  these  stemmed  knives,  it  is  supposed, 
were  mounted  in  wooden  or  bone  handles. 
Figs.  62,  63  and  64,  represent  chipped 
implements,  which,  gathered  casually  from 
the  fields,  as  they  there  occur  associated  with 
arrowheads  of  all  patterns,  might  be  classed 
with  them.  Yet,  it  is  certain  that,  even 
when  armed  with  sharp  points,  many  of  them 
were  used  as  knives. 

The  archaeological  explorations  in  southern 
California,  made  under  the  direction  of  Capt. 
G.  M.  Wheeler,  U.  S.  A.,22  and  the  subsequent  labors  of  Schumacher, 
Powers  and  others  in  the  same  localities,  have  thrown  much  light  upon 
the  uses  of  various  forms  of  stone  implements. 
Especially  is  this  true  of  those  large  arrow 
head-like  implements,  which  seemed  too  small 
to  be  classed  as  spearpoints,  and  were  un 
desirable  as  arrowheads  by  reason  of  their 
size  and  weight.  These  are  now  known  to 
have  been  used  as  knives,  and  it  is  fair  to  as 
sume  that  they  were  put  to  the  same  use  when 
found  along  our  Atlantic  seaboard. 

In  the  plate  referred  to,  there  is  repre 
sented  a  series  of  knives  of  flint,  four  of  which 
have  still  attached  to  them  the  short  wooden 
handles  in  which  they  were  mounted.  Of  the 
series  of  seven  flints,  six  are  acutely  pointed  ;  FlG'  62-~New  Jersey-  +• 
and,  if  dissociated  from  their  handles,  they  would  be  generally  con- 


22  U.  S.  Geog.  Survey  West  looth  Meridian,  vol.  vii,  Archaeology,  pi.  iv,  figs.  1-7.     Wash, 
ington,  D.  C.,  1880. 


CHIPPED    FLINT   KNIVES. 


89 


sidered  as  leaf-shaped  arrowheads;  but  on  comparing  these  Pacific 
coast  specimens  with  the  arrowheads  found  in  the  same  locality,  it 
will  be  noticed  that  true  arrowheads,  while  of  the  same  shape,  are 
much  smaller  and  invariably  thinner.  This  feature  of  size,  and  also 
the  relative  thinness  of  specimens,  must  be  always  borne  in  mind,  in 
classifying  these  objects ;  for,  if  thick  and  heavy,  they  would  require 
an  expenditure  of  force,  to  enable  them  to  penetrate  the  body  of  an 
animal,  that  perhaps,  an  Indian  could  not  command. 

Fig.  65  represents  one  of  these  large  leaf-shaped  knives,  from  New 


FIG.  63.  — New  Jersey,     j.  FIG.  64.  —  New  Jersey.     -j> 

Jersey,  which  was  formerly  supposed  to  be  an  arrowhead.  If  we  com 
pare  this  implement  with  the  leaf-shaped  arrowheads  figured  in  a  sub 
sequent  chapter,  the  difference  will  at  once  be  seen  ;  and  in  classifying 
these  objects  as  found  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  as  it  is  necessary  to  do,  in 
studying  the  same  forms  from  California,  it  is  obvious  that  the  dis 
tinction  should  be  drawn  between  leaf-shaped  knives  and  leaf-shaped 
arrowheads.  Of  a  somewhat  similar  character,  are  the  arrowheads 
mounted  upon  short  wooden  shafts,  found  in  Peru. 

Fig.  66  represents  one  of  these,  which,  although  differently  secured 


9o 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


to  the  wood,  is  otherwise  of  the  same  character  as  those  found  in  Cali 
fornia.  The  Peruvian  example  may  indeed  have  been  intended  to  be 
attached  to  a  reed  and  so  used  as  a  spear,  but  the  size  and  shape  of 
both  head  and  shaft  are  so  similar  to  those  found  in  California,  that  it 
is  probable  at  least,  that  they  were  also  used  as  knives,  even  if  prima 
rily  intended  for  use  as  spearpoints.  Judging  from  what  we  learn  of  the 
native  races  of  other  countries,  it  seems  safe  to  conclude,  that  a  pro 
portion  of  the  arrowhead-like  implements  we  gather  along  the  Atlantic 

seaboard  were  used  as  knives,  and  were 
hafted  in  a  practically  similar  manner  to 
that  shown  in  fig.  66. 

Figs.  '67  and  68  represent  specimens 
that  are  in  outline  quite  similar  to  ordi 
nary  arrowheads,  but  the  width  in  com 
parison  to  the  length  is  such,  that  even 
as  spearpoints  they  would  be  of  very  little 
value.  Placed  at  the  end  of  an  arrow 
they  would  be  so  clumsy  and  heavy,  that 
it  is  questionable  if  an  arrow  could  be  dis 
charged  with  any  accuracy  that  carried  such 
a  load.  As  a  knife  this  same  form,  especial 
ly  when  made  of  jasper,  is  in  everyway  de 
sirable.  Fig.  68  is  of  slate  and  much  weath 
ered.  An  example  of  this  kind  is  of  course 
more  open  to  question  as  to  its  use ;  as, 
with  a  moderately  long  shaft,  it  might  have 
been  used  as  a  spear.  The  probabilities  are,  however,  that  the  few  slate 
examples  that  are  found  of  this  pattern  were  used  as  knives. 

A  class  of  supposed  knives,  of  very  different  patterns,  are  repre 
sented  by  the  specimen  illustrated  in  fig.  69.  So  many  have  been 
found  of  this  shape  and  size  that  it  is  evident,  as  in  the  instance  of 
specimens  like  fig.  65,  they  were  designed  for  some  particular  pur 
pose,  and  there  is  little  in  their  shape  certainly  to  suggest  the 
arrowhead,  rather  than  a  cutting  implement. 


FlG.  65.  — New  Jersey, 


CHIPPED    FLINT    KNIVES. 


91 


Fig.  70  represents  a  peculiar  spearlike  imple 
ment  of  slate,  found  in  Vermont,  which  was  first 
described23  as  a  spear-point ;  but,  since  then, 
others  have  been  found  varying  somewhat  in 
details,  and  Professor  Perkins  is  inclined  to  con 
sider  them,  not  as  spearpoints,  but  as  knives. 
Of  the  series  found,  he  remarks,24  "of  the  dozen 
specimens  ....  no  two  are  alike  in  form  or 
size,  but  they  all  resemble  each  other  in  being 
made  of  slate,  usually  red  roofing  slate,  ground, 
not  chipped,  and  with  the  stem  notched  on  each 
side  by  a  series  of  semicircular  depressions.  In 
some  specimens  the  notches  are  small,  in  others 
large ;  one  specimen  having  but  two  deep  and 
wide  notches  on  each  side  of  the  rather  short 
stem,  while  another  has  five  smaller  ones.  In 
some  the  surfaces  are  flat,  bevelled  only  near  the 
edges,  which  are  straight  and  sharp  in  all,  while 
in  others  the  whole  surface  is  bevelled  from  a 
median  line.  One  or  two  are  so  long  and  narrow 
that  they  seem  wholly  unfit  for  any  use  as  imple 
ments  ;  one  especially,  made  of  talcose  slate,  is 
nearly  nine  inches  long." 

While  it  is  quite  possible  that  these  objects  may 
have  been  used  as  knives,  rather  than  spearpoints, 
it  is  evident  that  as  the  former,  they  would  com 
pare  very  unfavorably,  when  used  in  place  of 
many  of  the  chipped  knives  found  so  abundantly 
associated  with  them.  In  whatever  way  some  of 
the  ruder  and  larger  specimens  may  have  been 
used,  it  is  evident  that  fig.  70  would  make  a 
better  harpoon-point  than  knife. 

23  American   Naturalist,  vol.  v,  p.  16,  fig.  5. 

24  Loc.  cit.,  vol.  xii,  p.  746. 


m 


FIG.  66.— Peru.    -J-. 


92 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


Ground  or  polished  slate  arrowheads  and  knives  of  this  pattern  are 
not  confined  to  Vermont.  In  western  New  York,  several  specimens 
have  been  found,  which  so  far  vary  in  size,  as  to  suggest  that  the 
smaller  were  used  as  arrowheads  and  the  larger  as  cutting  implements. 

A  single  specimen,  identical  with  fig.  70,  was  recently  found  in 
Morris  Co.,  New  Jersey,  on  the  shore  of  Lake  Hopatcong.  It  was 
made  of  the  roofing  slate  that  occurs  at  the  Delaware  Water  Gap,  and 
vicinity.  The  locality  where  this  knife  was  found  is  one  that  suggests 
that  an  implement  so  well  adapted  for  spearing  fish,  as  is  this  pattern 
of  so-called  knives,  should  have  been  used  in  this  manner,  and  not  as 


FIG.  67.  —  New  Jersey. 


FIG.  68.  —  New  Jersey, 


a  cutting  implement  of  any  kind  ;  especially  as  an  abundance  of  deli 
cately  chipped  jasper  knives  have  been  gathered  in  this  neighborhood. 
Another  class,  if  they  may  be  so  called,  of  stemmed  knives,  is 
represented  by  figs.  71  and  72.  .Knives  of  this  pattern,  which  are 
characterized  principally  by  the  very  acute  point  in  the  middle  of  the 
blade,  are  not  frequently  met  with  along  the  Atlantic  seaboard,  and  no 
interior  locality  is  known  where  they  are  a  characteristic  form.  Such 
as  have  been  examined  were  all  from  New  Jersey  except  two  —  one 
from  Massachusetts,  and  the  other  from  Texas.  Of  a  series  of  eleven 
from  New  Jersey,  seven  were  facsimiles  of  fig.  71,  and  the  others 


CHIPPED    FLINT   KNIVES. 


93 


more  like  fig.  72.  These  knives  are  all  made  of  jasper,  and  show  an 
unusual  amount  of  care  in  the  chipping,  not  always  in  the  small  size  of 
the  flakes  detached,  but  in  the  care  that  appears  to  have  been  taken  to 
bring  out  and  preserve  the  characteristic  point  in  the  blade. 

For  what  particular  purpose,  if  any,  these  curiously  shaped  knives 
were  designed  is  a  matter  of  conjecture.  That  they  were  used  as  cut 
ting  implements  is  almost  a  certainty. 

Circular  and  square  knives  also,  carefully  chipped  from  jasper  and 
chert  pebbles,  are  often  found.  They  are  usually  of  small  size  and 
have  such  evenly  chipped  edges,  that  there  is  no  evidence  that  any 
portion  has  been  inserted  in  a  handle  of  any  kind.  Similar  square 


FIG.  69.  — New  Jersey,    }.  FIG.  70.— Vermont.  £.  FIG.  71. —  New  Jersey.     \. 

knives,  made  of  chert,  have  been  found  in  the  ancient  graves  in  the 
islands  off  the  California  coast,  that  measured  less  than  an  inch  in 
length  or  breadth. 

Certain  irregularly  chipped,  flint  objects  are  of  quite  common  oc 
currence,  wherever  the  better  known  objects  are  found,  and  it  is  a 
matter  of  much  uncertainty  whether  their  purposes,  in  all  cases,  can 
ever  be  determined.  Some  indeed,  notwithstanding  the  care  with 
which  they  have  been  chipped,  are  wholly  unintelligible ;  but  others, 
though  seemingly  of  little  value  as  knives,  have  sufficient  margin  in  a 
continuous  line  to  give  them  a  cutting  edge ;  and  so  with  some  feel 
ing  of  doubt,  they  are  classed  among  the  cutting  implements.  Fig.  73 


94 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


represents  one  of  these  ill-defined  specimens,  which  bears  some  resem 
blance  to  certain  of  the  fossil  sharks'  teeth  found  in  the  New  Jersey 
greensand  marls,  and  which  were  frequently  used  as  ornaments,  and 

occasionally  as  weapons.  These  shark- 
tooth  shaped  implements  have  been  sup 
posed  to  be  knives,  rather  than  arrowheads, 
in  consideration  of  the  great  objection  the 
curved  point  would  offer  to  their  use  in 
this  latter  capacity. 

Fig.  74  represents  another  example  of 
these  apparently  meaningless  implements, 
yet  one  certainly  not  of  accidental  occur 
rence,  as  every  portion  is  most  admirably 

chipped.  Whether  knife  or  drill,  or  both,  it  is  difficult  to  determine  ; 
but  it  would  serve  the  purpose  of  a  knife  as  well  as  it  would  that  of 
any  other  form  of  chipped  implement,  particularly,  if  securely  fastened 
to  a  wooden  or  bone  handle. 

Knives  of  shell  and  bone  were  also  in  use  by  the  Indians,  but  none 


FIG.  73.  —  New  Jersey.     \. 


FIG.  74.  —  New  Jersey, 


have  been  preserved,  so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  ascertain.  Kami 
remarks  of  the  New  Jersey  Indians,  that  besides  knives  of  flint, 
they  "  were  satisfied  with  a  sharp  shell,  or  with  a  piece  of  a  bone 
which  they  had  sharpened  "  (Travels  in  North  America,  vol.  ii,  p.  39, 
London,  1771),  and  refers  to  the  use  of  "sharp  shells,"  in  their 


CHIPPED    FLINT   KNIVES. 


95 


canoe-making.  It  is  probable  that  the  stouter  Unio  or  mussel  shells 
are  here  referred  to,  and  if  so  they  would  necessarily  be  beyond  recog 
nition,  if  indeed,  they  were  not  destroyed  by  use.  Fragments  of 
marine  shells,  with  ground  cutting  edges,  as  before  stated,  have  not 
been  found  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard,  or,  if  so,  but  very  rarely. 


CHAPTER     VII. 


DRILLS,   AWLS   OR  PERFORATORS. 


WHILE  single  objects  are  constantly  being  discovered,  the  purpose 
of  which  it  is  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  determine,  it  has  not 
happened  that  any  numerous  class  of  objects  has  been  gathered,  the 
use  of  which  could  not  be  shown  with  some  degree  of  probability. 
Possibly  the  smaller  polished  celts  may  come  under  the  head  of  ob 
jects  of  unknown  uses  ;  for,  as  yet,  it  is  not  demonstrable  how  many  of 
the  very  diminutive  examples  were  used,  although,  as  in  all  such  cases, 
it  is  easy  to  conjecture.  In  another  publication25  they  have  been 
called  "skinning  knives,"  not  because  there  was  actual  evidence  that 
an  Indian  had  ever  used  one  as  a  "skinner,"  but  simply  because  it  was 
found  possible  to  skin  a  small  mammal  with  one,  with  great  ease.  It 
is  not  desirable,  however,  to  be  guided  by  one's  own  experience  in 
this  matter,  and  when  the  use  of  any  pattern  of  stone  implement  is 
not  apparent  from  its  size  and  shape ;  then  we  must  admit  our  ig 
norance  and  confine  ourselves  to  such  comprehensive  terms  as  "celt" 
or  "  implement ; "  unless  indeed,  we  find  a  similar  implement  in 
use  among  existing  races.  In  such  a  case,  we  have  usually  a  safe 
guide. 

The  series  of  objects  now  under  consideration,  it  is  probably  safe 
to  classify  as  drills  or  perforators,  because  their  principal  feature 
suggests  no  other  use  whatever ;  and  our  faith  in  this  classification  is 
confirmed  by  experiment,  for  it  is  found  that  they  can  be  used  as 
such,  even  when  the  material  perforated  is  of  an  equally  compact  or 
even  harder  stone  than  that  of  which  the  implement  itself  is  made. 
Certainly,  for  drilling  thin  plates  of  stone,  of  which  such  large  num- 

25  Smithson.  Ann.  Rep.,  1875,  p.  304-6,  figs.  115  and  120. 

7  (97) 


98  PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 

bers  are  everywhere  found,  they  are  admirably  adapted,  though  per 
haps  not  more  so,  than  are  many  of  the  chance  flakes  found  in  the 
refuse  heaps  where  arrowheads  have  been  made. 

Admitting  this  use  for  the  more  common  sizes,  which  have,  at  the 
same  time,  the  strength  and  durability  required  for  this  purpose  ;  what 
are  we  to  consider  the  use  of  the  more  delicately  formed  examples 
of  this  same  implement?  In  delicacy  of  chipping,  many  of  these  latter 
approach  very  closely,  if  they  do  not  equal,  the  finest  Danish  arrow 
heads,  though  none,  however,  show  any  polish  on  the  point,  as  occurs 
on  many  of  the  larger  examples.  Their  appearance  suggests  that 
they  were  used  to  pierce,  and  not  to  perforate  gradually,  by  a  rotary 
motion ;  in  a  word,  that  they  were  awls  used  in  sewing  skins.  This 
seems  the  more  probable,  inasmuch  as  the  bone  awls  or  needles, 
common  to  some  localities,  occur  but  very  rarely  in  New  Jersey, 
whilst  in  New  England,  they  are  common,  especially  in  the  shell  heaps  ; 
and  stone  drills,  whether  large  or  small,  are  less  frequent.  This  is  not 
conclusive  evidence,  however,  for  in  Ohio,  both  the  bone  awls  and 
stone  perforators  of  unusually  delicate  workmanship,  are  more  abun 
dant  than  in  any  known  locality  on  the  northern  Atlantic  seaboard. 
Why  the  two  forms  should  be  found  associated,  when  the  bone  ex 
amples  are  not  only  better,  but  certainly  more  easily  made,  is  some 
thing  of  a  mystery,  if  it  be  true  that  they  had  identical  uses. 

It  will  be  noticed,  on  examination  of  the  several  illustrations  of  these 
drills  or  perforators,  that  many  of  the  small  and  delicate  examples  have 
very  elaborately  wrought  bases,  the  majority  of  which,  judging  from 
the  character  of  the  design,  were  not  fashioned  for  any  useful  purpose. 
The  length  of  the  drill,  also,  varies  indefinitely,  many  having  but  a 
sharp  slender  projection  of  less  than  one-fourth  of  an  inch,  from  a 
large  square  base,  which  is  often  beautifully  chipped  ;  others,  again,  are 
three  and  even  four  inches  in  length,  exclusive  of  the  base. 

While  the  purpose  of  the  larger  drills,  as  figs.  75  and  76  may  have 
been  to  drill  thin  plates  of  stone,  such  as  the  pendants  and  other  orna 
mental  objects  described  in  Chapter  XXVII,  and  the  others  may  have 
been  used  as  awls  or  perforators  of  leather,  there  is  reason  to  believe 


DRILLS,   AWLS   OR   PERFORATORS. 


99 


that  the  manufacture  of  shells  and  beads  explains  the  occurrence 
of  so  very  many  of  the  smaller  sizes.  Beads,  it  is  well  known, 
have  ever  been  a  favorite  ornament  with  savage  races,  and  whether 
made  of  shell  or  bone,  or  of  clay  or  stone,  they  are  found  in  greater 
or  less  abundance,  wherever  the  ordinary  forms  of  stone  implements 
are  found.  Considering  that  thousands  of  small  shell  beads  and  strings 
of  wampum  are  not  uncommon,  it  is 
natural  to  conclude  that  the  implements, 
wherewith  they  were  perforated,  should 
be  correspondingly  abundant,  and  that 
the  intermediate  sizes  at  least  could  have 
been  so  used.  Probably  even  the  more 
delicate  would  not  break  under  the  rotary 
motion  if  used  only  for  perforating  shells 
and  bone.  The  former  is  the  material  of 
which  wampum  is  made,  and  is  quite  as 
wearing  to  flint,  as  any  mineral  that  we 
find,  that  has  been  perforated  by  a  stone- 
drill.  Still,  this  latter  use  of  the  small 
drills  is  altogether  conjectural;  and  the 
suggestion  that  they  were  solely  for  pierc 
ing  leather,  and  only  used  by  the  women, 
is  certainly  the  most  plausible  explanation 
of  their  purpose. 

Fig.  75  represents  what  may  be  consid 
ered  a  typical  example  of  a  flint  or  jasper 
drill,  such  as  is  found  in  abundance  in  FlGt  75-  — New  jersey.  f. 
New  Jersey,  and  in  fewer  numbers  in  New  England.  This  specimen, 
which  is  of  about  the  maximum  length  of  these  implements,  is  carefully 
chipped  from  chalcedonic  quartz,  and  is  as  symmetrical  as  are  the  best 
finished  daggers  of  flint.  There  is  no  trace  of  wear  upon  the  point, 
and  for  whatever  purpose  it  may  have  been  designed,  it  is  evident  that 
it  has  been  but  little  used.  Of  the  hundreds  of  such  drills  as  fig.  75 
that  we  now  find  in  our  fields,  the  great  majority  are  broken  near  the 


100 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 


middle  of  the  shaft,  but  whether  this  fracture  occurred  while  the  im 
plement  was  still  in  use,  or  after  it  was  discarded,  and  in  very 
recent  times,  cannot  l>e  easily  determined.  That  there  are  found, 
however,  many  more  of  the  bases  of  drills,  than  of  the  pointed  ends, 
is  certain ;  and  from  this  fact,  it  is  safe  to  infer  that  a  considerable 
portion  of  those  that  have  been  broken,  at  or  near  the  middle  of  the 
shaft,  were  fractured  while  in  use. 

Fig.  76  represents  a  second  example  of  this  form  of  drill,  of  a  more 
common  size  and  character  of  finish.  There  is  but  little  evidence  of 
wear  at  the  tip.  Unlike  slender,  tapering  spear- 
points,  especially  such  as  have  elsewhere  been 
called  fish  spears,  this  and  the  preceding  specimen 
are  not  in  section,  a  flattened  oval,  but  are  dis 
tinctly  quadrangular.  This  feature,  which  is  char 
acteristic  of  the  great  majority  of  these  drills,  is  to 
some  extent  indicative  of  their  use.  The  four 
sides,  while  giving  four  cutting  edges,  and  thus 
facilitating  the  perforating  power,  if  rotated,  would 
largely  decrease  the  penetrating  power  if  used  as 
an  arrow  or  spearpoint.  Such  a  use,  however, 
would  scarcely  be  suggested  for  this  .implement, 
even  if  unquestionable  arrowheads  were  not  known. 
The  mineral,  of  which  fig.  76  is  made,  is  a  dull 
yellowish-brown  jasper,  such  as  occurs  in  pebbles 
of  different  sizes  in  the  river  gravels.  The  base,  as  will  be  seen  by 
reference  to  the  cut,  while  simple  in  design  and  convenient  in  size,  has 
at  the  lower  end  a  well  chipped  cutting  edge,  such  as  characterizes  the 
better  specimens  of  jasper  knives.  Whether  this  edge  was  designed 
to  be  used  as  a  knife,  or  whether  the  implement  was  inserted  in  a 
handle  is  not  determinable  ;  but  on  examination  of  a  large  series,  it 
seems  probable  that  the  broad  bases,  such  as  figs.  77  to  81,  inclusive, 
possess,  bear  some  relation  to  the  uses  to  which  the  drill  proper  was  put. 
Figs.  7  7  to  8 1 ,  inclusive,  illustrate  very  nearly  to  what  extent  the  shape 
and  size  of  these  broad  based  drills  vary,  although  the  examples  here 


FIG.  76.  — New 
Jersey.     |. 


DRILLS,    AWLS   OR   PERFORATORS. 


IOI 


figured  do  not  fairly  exhibit  the  great  beauty  of  finish  along  the  edges 
of  the  base  shown  by  a  few  specimens  more  recently  collected.  Did 
there  seem  to  be  any  limit  to  the  numbers  of  these  stone  drills  still  to 
be  gathered  in  many  localities,  it  might  be  supposed  that  the  makers 
of  these  implements  were  economically  disposed ;  and,  foreseeing  the 
early  destruction  of  the  points  or  drilling  parts,  had  ready  the  imple 
ment  of  such  shape  that,  with  little  or  no  additional  labor,  it  could  be 


FIG.  77. —  New  Jersey,    -f. 


FIG.  78.  — New  Jersey.    |. 


converted  into  a  knife.  That  the  broad  based  examples  may  be  con 
sidered  a  combined  knife  and  drill  is  no  tax  upon  one's  credulity,  for  in 
no  other  way  can  it  be  explained  why  such  a  "drill,"  if  such  it  only 
was,  should  have  so  elaborate  a  base,  as  in  fig.  79  for  example.  When 
we  come  to  consider  the  smaller  drills,  or  "awls,"  we  shall  find  even 
more  notable  examples  of  these  knife-like  bases.  These  bases,  it 
should  be  further  stated,  do  not  only  occur  on  such  drills  as  are 
chipped  from  jasper  pebbles.  Of  the  five  examples  figured,  figs.  77 
and  78  are  of  slate  and  comparatively  soft,  while  79,  80  and  81  are  01 
jasper.  The  relative  merits  of  these  minerals  for  producing  the  best 


102 


PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 


results  in  the  "flint  chipping"  art  have  been  quite  fully  referred  to,  when 
considering  the  various  patterns  of  so-called  knives ;  but  it  is  not  out 
of  place  to  mention  at  this  time,  the  fact,  that  slate  drills,  when  newly 
chipped,  were  much  more  unyielding  and  sharp  about  the  point  and 
edges  than  they  are  now  after  centuries  of  exposure  to  the  weather. 
For  an  inconsiderable  depth,  a  process  of  decomposition  has  taken 


FIG.  79.  —  New  Jersey, 


FIG.  80.  —  New  Jersey,    -f. 


place,  which  gives  to  many  objects,  made  of  slate,  a  very  chalky  ap 
pearance  ;  but  this  is  so  superficial,  that  the  mere  handling  will  in 
some  cases  remove  the  decayed  portion,  and  exhibit  beneath,  a  dense, 
sharp  surface  that  readily  scratches  hard  mineral  substances,  and  proves 
the  material  available  for  making  "flint  implements." 

In  conclusion,  as  will  be  seen  by  reference  to  the  illustrations,  the 


DRILLS,    AWLS    OR   PERFORATORS. 


I03 


points  of  the  drills  are  in  most  cases  wanting.  This,  as  has  already 
been  mentioned,  arises  from  the  fact  that  they  were  broken  when  in 
use,  rather  than  by  any  subsequent  exposure  to  ploughs  and  harrows, 
or  to  the  hoofs  of  horses. 

In  figs.  82  and  83,  we  have  examples  of  a  common  pattern  of  drill, 
that  differs  somewhat  from  the  preceding.  Both  are  of  jasper,  similarly 
shaped,  and  vary  but  little  in  size.  In  these  examples  of  stone  drills, 
we  have  a  peculiarity  which  brings  them  nearer  to  the  arrowheads,  in 


FIG.  81-. — New  Jersey. 


FIG.  82.  —  New  Jersey. 


FIG.  83.  —  New  Jersey.     -{  . 


that,  instead  of  being  distinctly  quadrangular  in  section,  they  are  of  a 
flattened  oval  shape  in  section,  and  have  the  thin,  chipped  cutting 
edges  of  knives  or  arrowheads.  Elsewhere26  the  suggestion  has  been 
made  that  these  bases,  when  distinctly  oval,  may  have  been  used  in 
drilling  the  bowls  of  steatite  smoking  pipes,  but  subsequent  examination 
of  many  pipe  bowls  now  convinces  me  that  this  is  an  error  ;  as  the  tool 
marks  or  stria  in  the  bowls  of  such  pipes  are  so  regular,  that  a  hollow 


26  Smithson.  Ann.  Rep.,  1875,  p.  323.      See  Rau,  in  Smith  Ann.  Rep.,  1868,  p.  392. 


IO4 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


drill  was  in  all  probability  used,  except  in  the  largest  pipes,  which  show 
that  the  excavation  was  first  pecked  or  gouged  out,  and  then  smoothed 
in  some  undetermined  manner.  The  thinner  edges  of  these  flattened 
drills  do  not  show  any  indication  of  wear  or  polish.  Probably  they 
were  chipped  off  as  the  implement  was  rotated,  and  these  minute 
flakes  acted  similarly  to  the  fine  grains  of  sharp  sand,  which  it  is  well 
known  was  used  in  connection  with  hollow  drills. 

Fig.  84  represents  a  roughly  chipped  implement  much  like  an 
arrowhead,  but  of  such  an  irregularly  shaped 
base,  that  it  could  scarcely  be  so  secured  to 
a  shaft,  as  to  have  been  made  available  for 
that  purpose.  As  in  the  preceding,  it  is  thin 
ner  and  flatter  than  the  majority  of  drills,  but 
shows  some  traces  of  wearing  along  the  edges 
and  at  the  tip,  and  was  probably  used  as  we 
have  here  suggested.  It  differs  from  drills  of 
both  the  quadrangular  and  flattened  forms,  in 
being  quite  flat  upon  one  side,  and  with  a 
moderately  well  defined  ridge  upon  the  other. 
It  will  be  found,  however,  that  in  all  large 
collections  of  stone  implements  of  every  class, 
other  than  ornaments,  many  examples  will  be 
of  such  indefinite  shapes,  as  to  make  it  ex 
ceedingly  difficult  to  classify  them, —  a  labor 
not  without  its  difficulties  even  when  the  objects  are  seemingly  so 
distinct  as  are  the  axes,  spearpoints,  or  polished  celts.  Until  our 
knowledge  of  the  habits  and  customs  of  prehistoric  man  is  largely 
increased,  all  classification  must  to  some  extent  be  conjectural,  and 
considered  more  as  a  help  to  archaeological  studies,  rather  than  of 
scientific  importance. 

In  fig.  85,  we  have  a  second  example  of  a  chipped  implement, 
which  is,  judging  from  our  own  experience,  rather  a  drill,  than  either 
an  arrowhead  or  a  knife.  It  is  too  long  and  narrow  for  the  latter,  and 
without  such  a  base  as  is  common  to  the  spearpoints  of  that  size.  It 


FIG.  84. 


DRILLS,    AWLS    OR   PERFORATORS. 


I05 


is  of  slate,  somewhat  weathered,  and  exhibits  no  trace  of  polish  on 
either  the  tip  or  sides. 

Fig.  86  is,  in  most  respects,  similar  to  the  large  based  drills  already 
described,  but  it  is  as  thin  and  sharp  upon  the  edges  as  an  ordinary 
arrowhead.  The  long,  narrow  point  and  stem  suggest  the  drill  rather 
than  the  spearpoint,  and  the  well  denned  cutting  edge  of  the  base  is 


FIG.  86. 

too  carefully  worked  not  to  have  been  utilized  subsequently ;  and  this 
could  not  have  been  the  case,  if  the  specimen  had  been  used  as  tip 
to  an  arrow  or  point  to  a  spear. 

Fig.  87,  on  the  other  hand,  appears  to  have  been  attached  to  a 
handle  of  some  kind  ;  the  double  notching  at  the  base  —  a  feature  of 
rare  occurrence  —  indicating  that  it  was  desirable  to  make  it  very  se 
cure.  Had  the  specimen  a  well  defined,  sharp  point,  it  would  be  very 
doubtful  if  it  were  intended  for  a  drill  •  but  while  the  crooked  point  is  a 


io6 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


drawback  to  its  use  in  this  capacity,  it  is  probably  less  of  an  objection 

than  it  would  be  if  used  in  any  other  way. 

A  further  peculiarity  of  this  specimen  is  that  the  under  surface  is 

almost  perfectly  flat,  while  the  side 
shown  in  the  illustration  is  ridged  and 
slopes  from  a  central  line  as  in  the  ordi 
nary  spear  and  arrowpoints.  The  flat 
side  is  not  a  single  plane  of  cleavage, 
but  has  been  carefully  chipped,  and 
presents  fully  as  many  distinct  planes  as 
the  other  side. 

Fig.  88  represents  a  connecting  link, 
if  we  may  so  call  it,  between  the  ordi 
nary  arrowpoints  and  those  smaller  drills, 
which,  as  "awls,"  we  shall  consider  in 
a  subsequent  section  of  this  chapter. 
While  the  size,  shape  and  material  of 
this  specimen  are  such  as  are  common 
to  many  arrow- 
points,  the  once 
highly  polished 
point  shows  con 
clusively  that  what 
ever  may  have 
been  the  purpose 

of  the  maker,  it  was  undoubtedly  used  as  a  drill, 

and  not  always  upon  such  yielding  material  as 

leather.     The  marked  indications  of  its  use,  so 

seldom   seen    on  the   ordinary  drills,  make  this 

specimen  unusually  interesting.     Occasionally  it 

happens,  especially  when  collecting  on  what  was 

once  a  village  site,  that  several  drills  with  distinctly  worn  or  polished 

points  are  found,  and  hence  it  is  sometimes  supposed  that  a  majority 

of  drills   and  awls  show  similar    indication  of  use.     This,   however, 


FIG.  87. 


FIG.  88. 


DRILLS,   AWLS    OR   PERFORATORS. 


107 


is  undoubtedly  an  error.  Indeed,  apparently  unused  specimens  really 
do  occur  in  such  excess,  that  the  question  may  well  be  asked,  whether, 
in  perforating  stone  disks,  and  drilling  cer 
emonial  stones,  implements  of  wood  were 
not  always  used. 

Fig.  89  represents  a  perfect  example  of 
a  form  of  implement  of  which  but  few 
specimens  have  been  found.  It  is,  without 
hesitation,  classed  as  a  drill,  and  is  sup 
posed  to  be  of  the  maximum  size  of  this 
pattern.  The  specimen  is  of  compact 
slate,  well  chipped,  and  measures  four  and 
seven-eighths  inches  in  length.  Other  ex 
amples,  but  of  jasper,  are  each  nearly  an 
inch  shorter. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  head  or 
pointed  end  of  fig.  89  is  narrower  than  the 
main  portion  of  the  implement.  This 
feature  is  common  to  all  those  collected  in 
New  Jersey.  In  the  following  illustration 
of  a  broken  specimen,  this  is  even  more 
marked  than  in  the  present  instance.  As 
in  the  case  of  those  smaller  drills  with  large 
bases,  this  specimen,  also,  has  the  margins 
of  the  handle  or  lower  portion  brought  to  a 
well  denned  cutting  edge  by  chipping. 

It  is,  indeed,  not  altogether  improbable, 
that  it  is  a  misconception  to  consider  fig.  89 
a  drill.     If  we  reverse  the  implement,  and 
assume  that  the  pointed  end  is  so  shaped          FlG-  89. -New  Jersey,   j. 
for  the  better  attachment  of  a  handle,  we  have  then,  thus  hafted,  a 
most  admirably  designed  flint  knife,  and  one  that  on  a  smaller  scale 
occurs  along  the  Atlantic  coast. 

Whether  the  preceding  specimen  is  a  drill,  a  knife,  or  whether  it  was 


io8 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


intended  for  some  unknown  use,  it  is  quite  certain  that  the  fragment, 
fig.  90,  is  a  portion  of  a  similar  implement.  In  this  instance,  the  material 
is  quartz,  and  it  is  worked  with  more  care.  There  seems  to  be,  also, 
too  much  work  upon  the  pointed  head  —  assuming  the  specimen  to  be 
identical  with  the  preceding — to  have  been  intended  merely  for  a 
stem  to  insert  in  a  wooden  or  bone  handle.  Its  finished  condition 
suggests  that  it  was  the  principal  feature  of  the  implement,  and  that 
which  decided  its  purpose  in  the  mind  of  the  ancient  flint  worker  who 
fashioned  it. 

Fig.  9 1  represents  a  very  roughly  chipped  implement  of  slate  which 
very  strongly  resembles  the  preceding  speci 
mens,  although  there  is  sufficient  difference 
to  justify  the  supposition  that  they  may  have 
had  different  uses.  In  the  specimen  here 
figured,  however,  we  find  that  the  pointed 
end  is  quite  smoothly  polished,  and  this  at 
once  suggests  its  use  as  a  drill.  The  nar 
rowed  portion  or  waist  is  nearly  in  the  mid 
dle,  and  this  gives  the  specimen  a  much 
larger  head  than  in  fig.  89  ;  though,  like  it, 
the  sides  are  brought  to  a  moderately  well 
defined  cutting  edge.  Rude  as  it  is,  there  is 
FIG.  9o.  —  New  jersey,  j.  much  evidence  that  it  was  used  as  a  drill, 
although  among  the  hundreds  of  perforated  objects  that  have  been 
collected,  there  are  none  that  suggest  the  use  of  a  drill  of  this 
size,  rather  than  that  of  a  smaller  form,  such  as  fig.  76.  This,  of 
course,  is  on  the  supposition  that  the  ceremonial  objects  and  other 
similar  specimens  were  perforated  with  a  hollow  reed,  in  connection 
with  sand  and  water.  This,  however,  was  not  always  the  case,  as  un 
finished  objects  of  this  character  are  found  which  show  that  a  solid, 
pointed  drill  had  been  used.  But  of  the  many  examined,  none  have 
the  perforation  equal  in  diameter  to  the  width  of  the  specimen,  fig. 


In  figs.  92  and  93,  we  have,  in  the  former,  a  half  of  a  stone  gorget, 


DRILLS,    AWLS    OR   PERFORATORS. 


in  the  upper  left  hand  corner  of  which  is  a  countersunk  hole,  such  as 
characterizes  these  objects.  In  order  to  test  the  efficiency  of  even  the 
softer  drills,  the  writer  made  the  series  of  nine  holes  with  the  drill, 
fig.  93.  A  glance  will  show  that  the  one  perforation,  made  by  the 
Indian,  was  in  all  probability  made 
with  a  similar  tool.  The  drill  itself 
became  highly  polished  by  so  much 
use,  but  suffered  less  than  a  similar 
drill  of  jasper,  which  was  used  but 
a  short  time,  and  which  from  con 
stant  splintering  was  soon  too  blunt 
and  worn  to  be  efficacious.  This 
was  no  doubt  in  part  due  to  very 
rapid  rotation,  and  the  fact  that  the 
first  experiment  was  made  without 
having  the  stone  wet.  The  other 
eight  holes  were  drilled  with  the  slab 
under  water. 

Is  it  not  probable  that  the  Indians 
did  not  use  water  in  connection  with 
these  stone  drills?  If  they  did  not, 
we  can  readily  see  why  so  many  of 
the  jasper  specimens  should  be 
broken  at  the  tips,  and  free  from 
polish.  The  friction  of  dry,  rapid 
rotation  causes  a  steady  splintering, 
and  keeps  the  drill  in  a  newly 
chipped  condition.  When  the  same 

drilling  is  done  under  water,  jasper  FlG-  91- -New  jersey, 

soon  acquires  a  magnificent  polish.     This  may  explain  the  great  ex 
cess  of  unpolished  jasper  drills,  over  such  as  are  worn  and  smooth. 

Fig.  94  represents  a  beautiful  jasper  specimen  of  the  smaller  drills 
which  will  be  here  referred  to  as  awls,  under  the  impression  that  their 
purpose  was  more  for  perforating  leather,  and  such  yielding  substances, 


IIO  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

than  for  boring  through  stone  or  bone.  Why  such  an  exaggerated  base 
should  be  given  to  an  implement  of  this  character  it  is  difficult  to 
conjecture,  unless  the  base  was  used  as  a  knife,  which  in  this  instance 
is  not  improbable,  for  it  is  seldom  that  chipped  jasper  knives,  with 
more  accurately  finished  cutting  edges,  occur.  The  extreme  tip  of  the 
awl  in  fig.  94  is  slightly  worn,  and  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that, 


FIG.  92.  —  New  Jersey,     j. 

when  first  chipped,  this  portion  of  the  implement  was  considerably 
longer  than  at  present.  Even  when  used  solely  as  an  awl  for  piercing 
leather,  these  points  would  in  time  become  dulled  and  wear  away,  or 
if  re-chipping  became  necessary,  they  would  be  materially  shortened. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  knife  would  not  be  noticeably  dulled  by  use, 
but  would  receive  in  time  a  polish  sufficient  to  glass  the  surface  of 


DRILLS,   AWLS   OR   PERFORATORS. 


Ill 


every  facet,  without  obliterating  the  delicate  ridges  that  define  the  out 
line  of  the  flakes  detached  in  chipping  the  implement.  This  slight 
polish  from  use  is  noticeable  on  this  specimen,  and,  to  a  less  degree, 
on  many  similar  ones,  from  the  same  locality.  In  the  New  England 
states,  exclusive  of  the  valley  of  the  Connecticut,  these  drills  are 
scarcely  known.  In  the  latter  locality,  they  are  sometimes  found. 
Fig.  95  represents  a  small  riake  of  jasper,  unaltered  anywhere,  ex- 


FIG.  93.  —  New  Jersey,     y 


FIG.  94. —  New  Jersey, 


cept  in  its  more  slender  portion,  which  has  been  carefully  chipped 
until  an  awl  or  drill  of  great  beauty  has  been  produced.  There  is,  at 
the  extreme  point,  no  polish  or  other  trace  of  use.  Drills  or  awls, 
made  from  flakes  of  about  this  size,  are  common  in  New  Jersey  and 
New  York,  and  are  found  in  considerable  numbers  in  the  valley  of  the 
Connecticut  river  ;  but  they  are  rare  in  Massachusetts  and  northward. 
This  assertion  is  based  upon  collections  in  various  institutions,  es 
pecially  those  of  the  Museum  of  Archaeology  at  Cambridge,  and 


112 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 


FIG.  95.  —  New  Jersey. 


of  the  Academy  of  Science  at  Salem,  Mass.  Inasmuch  as  the  col 
lections  here  mentioned,  as  well  as  those  in  other  institutions,  are  so 
largely  made  up  of  contributions  from  innumerable  sources,  it  is  pos 
sible  that  the  colK-ctors  of  such  material,  as  has 
been  preserved  lave  overlooked  so  small  and 
unattractive  an  jbject  as  the  flake  drill  in  fig.  95. 
To  some  extent  certain  objects  may  be  thought 
to  be  rare  or  unknown  in  given  localities,  simply 
because  the  '  are  not  readily  found ;  when,  in 
fact,  they  are  really  fairly  abundant,  but  require 
careful  search  to  discover  them.  This  is  not 
applicable,  however,  to  the  region  about  Salem, 
Mass.,  which  has  been  most  carefully  hunted 
over  by  those  who,  of  all  others,  have  had  that 

experience  and  preliminary  training  requisite  for  this  important  ele 
ment  of  archaeological  research. 

Figs.  96  and  97  represent  small  stone  awls,  such  as  the  preceding,  ex 
cept  that  in  this  instance  (fig.  96)  there  is  a  finished  base,  which  is  not, 
as  in  fig.  94,  at  all  knife-like  in  character.  There  does 
not  appear  to  be  any  special  object  in  giving  such  a 
finish  to  the  base,  and  it  can  only  be  looked  upon  as 
the  whim  of  the  maker.  This  specimen  is  made  of 
light  blue-gray  jasper,  and  is  chipped  with  great  care, 
the  workman  having  preserved  very  nearly  a  uniform 
width  throughout  the  entire  length  of  the  stem.  Larger 
drills  of  this  same  pattern  of  base  are  moderately 
common.  Fig.  97  represents  what  appears  to  be  the 
stem  of  a  drill  that  has  been  broken  near  the  base. 
Such  fragmentary  specimens  are  not  very  abundant. 
This  specimen  has  some  trace  of  wear  on  the  extreme 
point,  though  it  is  not  usual  to  find  such  indications  of  use  as  has 
been  elsewhere  stated  when  referring  to  this  same  specimen.27  Atten- 


FIG.  96.  — New 
Jersey.    |. 


27  Annual  Rept.  Smithson.  Inst.  1875,  p.  323;  fig.  154. 


DRILLS,   AWLS   OR   PERFORATORS. 


tion  may  be  called  to  these  apparently  broken  awls,  as  being  possibly 
intentionally  unfinished  or  broken  at  one  end,  for  the  purpose  of 
inserting  this  blunt  termination  into  a  bone  or  wooden  handle.  Many 
flint  knives  are  in  this  same  manner  broken  off  abruptly,  apparently 
by  accident ;  though  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  they  were  really 
left  in  this  condition  by  the  workman.  These  have  already  been 
noticed. 

Fig.  98  represents  a  third  example  of  these  small  and  slender  drills, 
with  its  extreme  point  lost  by  use  or  accident.  Like  the  preceding,  it 
is  chipped  from  jasper,  probably  a  pebble  of  about  its  present  size. 
Such  jasper  pebbles,  partially  chipped,  have  occasionally  been  found, 


FIG.  97.—  New  Jersey.   {.          FIG.  98.  — New  Jersey,    -f.  FIG.  99.  — New  Jersey,     -f. 

and  the  entire  series  presents  one  most  interesting  peculiarity,  viz. : 
that  the  stem  is  invariably  first  chipped,  not  roughly,  but  delicately, 
and  then  the  base  is  worked  into  such  shape  as  is  desired,  subject  of 
course  to  the  general  shape  and  size  of  the  unworked  portion  of  the 
pebble.  This  clearly  shows  that  in  all  cases  the  stem  and  point  are 
the  principal  features  of  the  implement,  and  the  shape  of  the  base, 
whether  it  be  fashioned  for  use  or  ornament,  is  altogether  a  matter  of 
minor  importance. 

Fig.  99  represents  a  small  drill  with  a  square  base,  such  as  is  occa 
sionally  found  in  New  Jersey,  but  is  not  abundant  in  any  one  locality. 
In  the  Connecticut  valley,  a  few  have  been  found,  but  usually  the 
drills  from  that  section  have  bases  more  like  that  in  fig.  101,  or 
what  is  known  as  the  arrowhead  base.  Fig.  99  is  made  of  slate, 
8 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


is  neatly  chipped,  and  has  the  point  more  than  usually  well  polished. 
The  majority  of  the  awls  of  this  size  are  made  of  jasper  or  quartz. 

Fig.  TOO  represents  a  curiously  designed  specimen  of  a  jasper  awl 
or  drill,  such  as  is  found  occasionally  associated   with  the  regular 
patterns  of  this  implement.     Being  irregular  f6rms,  there  is  little  to  be 
said  about  them.     In  the  present  instance,  it  was  at  first  supposed  to 
be  an  arrowhead,  with  a  single  exaggerated  barb  ;  but  such  can  hardly 
have  been  the  case,  as  the  base  is  not  of  such  shape  as  to  render  the 
attaching  of  the  arrow-shaft  practicable.     Further  examination  of  the 
specimen  shows,  also,  that  the  end  of  the  awl,  as  it 
is  now  believed  to  be,  is  quite  smooth ;  and,  from 
this  fact,  it  is  safe  to  infer  that  the  implement  is  an 
awl  or  perforator,   notwithstanding   the    peculiarly 
shaped  base.    The  point  of  the  base  is  quite  sharp, 
and  may  also  have  been  used  for  piercing  leather. 
In  such  a  case,  the  implement  becomes  a  double 
awl,  and  there  are  others  of  this  character,  of  even 
more  pronounced  shape  than  fig.  100.    The  double 
awls   from    New   Jersey,    now   in  the  Museum    at 
Cambridge,  have   usually  a   square  or  oval   base, 
from  which,  at   opposite    ends,  extend   short   but 
narrow   and    neatly   chipped   projections.      These 
double  awls  are  rare,   in    comparison   with   those 
"]'of  the    ordinary    patterns.       Of  those    examined, 
one-half  were  made  of  argillite  and  slate,  the  others  of  jasper. 

Fig.  101  represents  a  small  awl  with  a  base  of  the  highest  degree 
of  finish.  While  the  general  appearance  of  this  specimen  is  that  of 
an  arrowhead,  it  is  evident  from  the  polish  of  the  point,  and  the 
heavy,  exaggerated  base,  that  its  purpose  was  as  stated,  and  not  that 
so  undesirable  a  chipped  flint  should  have  been  used  to  tip  the  shaft 
of  an  arrow. 

In  Massachusetts,  there  are  found  but  few  of  these  small  awls  or 
drills,  and  nowhere  are  they  so  abundant  as  in  Ohio  and  Indiana.  In 
New  Jersey,  they  constitute  about  one  per  cent,  of  the  whole  number. 


DRILLS,    AWLS   OR   PERFORATORS.  115 

In  the  valley  of  the  Connecticut,  they  are  well  represented ;  although 
none  that  I  have  seen  from  there  have  been  quite  so  short  as  the  one 
figured  above.  The  bases  generally,  of  the  Connecticut  specimens 
are  either  stemmed  or  notched,  and  are  in  every  respect  identical  with 
the  stemmed  and  notched  bases  of  the  arrowheads  from  the  same  lo 
cality. 

The  same  may  be  said  of  the  larger  drills,  such  as  fig.  75,  which  is  here 
taken  as  the  type  of  the  drills  proper.  Those  from  the  Connecticut 
valley  are  of  identical  patterns,  and  usually  of  the  same  material. 
Indeed,  so  far  as  ordinary  Indian  stone  implements  are  concerned,  the 
specimens  from  the  valleys  of  the  Delaware  and  Connecticut  are  so 
similar,  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  determine 
from  which  of  the  two  localities  any  given  speci 
men  had  been  brought. 

In  the  valley  of  the  Susquehanna  river,  drills 
of  all  patterns  and  sizes  are  apparently  less  abun 
dant  than  in  the  valleys  of  the  two  rivers  men 
tioned.  In  the  collections  of  the  late  Professor 
Haldeman,  there  are  but  few  specimens  of  drills, 

FIG.  lot.  — New 

and  none  are  of  so  elaborate  a  finish  as  the  finer  jersey.    '. 

New  Jersey  examples  here  figured. 

In  the  large  series  of  stone  implements  gathered  from  the  Chickies 
Rock  retreat,  described  by  Prof.  Haldeman  in  the  Compte  Rendu  of 
the  Congress  of  Americanistes,  at  the  Luxembourg  session,  in  1878, 
there  are  a  number  of  pointed  flakes  and  fragments  of  quartz  and  jas 
per  which  were  considered  by  Prof.  Haldeman  to  have  been  "borers" 
and  are  so  labelled  in  the  collection,  but  none  of  these  exhibit  any 
indication  of  use.  They  may  have  been  reserved  for  use  as  drills, 
but  they  are  simply  accidentally  pointed  flakes  which  possibly  were 
gathered  from  the  refuse  chips  of  an  arrowmaker's  workshop,  and  in 
tended  for  use  as  drills  or  borers. 

The  large  majority  of  the  drilled  ceremonial  objects,  found  in  this 
Rock  retreat  and  in  the  neighborhood,  show  by  the  character  of  the 
perforation,  that  a  reed  or  hollow  drill  of  some  character  was  used. 


Il6  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

Fig.  102  represents  a  peculiar  implement  which  seems  more  likely 
to  have  been  used  as  a  drill,  than  as  a  knife  or  any  other  kind  of  stone 
implement.  There  is  in  all  that  have  been  examined,  not  only  a  well 
defined  point,  sufficiently  acute  to  pierce  leather  readily,  but  this  point 
has,  in  the  example  here  figured,  a  degree  of  polish,  from  use,  which 
clearly  shows  that  this  implement,  at  least,  has  been  used  as  a  drill  or 
awl.  The  flattened  bottom,  and  evenly  curved  back  are  so  fashioned 
as  to  make  it  very  easy  to  hold  the  specimen,  and  indeed,  a  much 
better  grasp  can  be  secured  when  such  an  implement  is  used,  than 
with  any  of  the  long  slender  drills,  such  as  have  been  described. 

All  that  have  been  gathered  of  this  pattern  are  made  of  argillite ; 
and,  as  will  be  seen  by  comparing  the  illustration  below  with  some 


FIG.  102.  —  New  Jersey. 

of  those  palaeolithic  implements  from  the  gravel  beds,  there  is  a 
marked  resemblance  between  them.  This  similarity,  however,  indicates 
no  relationship  between  the  two  forms,  though  it  has  misled  superficial 
observers  into  numerous  errors  as  to  the  significance  of  those  found  in 
the  gravel.  Nothing  from  the  latter  beds  evidences  any  such  use  as 
that  of  drilling  stone  with  stone,  or  of  utilizing  sharpened  flakes  of 
argillite  as  awls  or  perforators  of  leather ;  yet  that  palaeolithic  man 
used  the  skins  of  animals  for  clothing  can  hardly  be  doubted. 

Fig.  103  represents  a  very  interesting  specimen  of  stone  awl,  which 
presents  a  feature  that  was  wanting  in  all  those  previously  described. 
This  specimen  is  polished  over  its  entire  surface.  It  is  made  of  white 
quartz,  and  has  been  ground  down  until  every  inequality  has  disap 
peared.  The  point  is  very  sharp,  and  it  is  questionable  whether  for 


DRILLS,   AWLS   OR   PERFORATORS. 


117 


piercing  skins  of  animals,  or  equally  yielding 
substances,  any  implement  of  metal  would  be 
preferable.  Implements  of  this  pattern  are  very 
rare.  Of  five  hundred  drills  and  awls  of  all 
patterns  from  New  Jersey,  in  the  Museum  at 
Cambridge,  there  is  no  other  example  of  this 
pattern ;  nor  is  there  anything  approaching  it 
from  the  New  England  states.  As  has  been 
suggested,  it  is  probable  that  in  New  England, 
bone  needles  generally  replaced  the  stone  awls. 
Before  concluding  this  subject  of  the  stone 
implements  that  are  supposed  or 
known  to  have  been  used  for  drilling 
through  stone,  and  perforating 
leather,  in  lieu  of  the  modern  steel 
needles,  it  is  proper  to  call  attention 
to  other  forms  of  polished  stone  im 
plements,  which,  like  the  preceding 
(of  the  purpose  of  which,  there  can 
be  no  doubt),  may  be  properly 
FIG.  103.— New  classed  as  drills  of  some  particular 
pattern,  and  as  such  designed  for 
peculiar  purposes.  Whatever  may  be  the  charac 
ter  of  these  "uncertain  forms,"  they  are  not 
unique,  and  hence  it  is  evident  that  they  are 
not  merely  the  result  of  a  whim  on  the  part  of 
the  maker. 

Fig.  104  represents  a  polished  stone  imple 
ment,  of  peculiar  pattern,  from  Concord,  Mass. 
As  the  illustration  plainly  shows,  there  is  a  well 
defined,  piercing  point  at  each  end  of  the  im 
plement,  and  these  were  evidently  intended  to 
be  used.  Of  the  large  series  of  stone  imple 
ments  from  Massachusetts  in  the  Museum  at 


FIG.  104.— Massachusetts. 


n8 


PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 


Cambridge,  there  is  no  other  specimen  that  is  similar  to  this.  From 
the  shellheaps,  however,  have  been  procured  many  large  bone  imple 
ments,  pointed  at  one  end,  which  are  practically  the  same  as  the 
above.  A  broken  specimen  of  an  implement  of  this  pattern  has 
been  found  in  New  Jersey,  and  another, 
not  broken,  but  smaller,  near  Columbia, 
Penn.,  on  the  bank  of  the  Susquehanna 
river.  Fig.  104  is  circular  in  section  at 
all  points.  Except  in  this,  the  larger 
chipped  drills,  such  as  fig.  89,  would,  if 
ground  down  until  every  trace  of  chipping 
disappeared,  be  similar  in  form.  Fig.  104 
has  evidently  not  been  first  chipped  and 
then  ground  or  rubbed  down.  The  surface 
of  the  widest  portion  is  apparently  the  un 
altered  surface  of  the  natural  cylindrical 
pebble,  selected  for  the  purpose  of  making 
a  long,  double  pointed  drill,  if  such  the 
implement  really  is. 

Fig.  105  represents  a  supposed  drill, 
which,  in  its  design,  bears  much  the  same 
relation  to  those  of  the  largest  size  already 
figured,  that  the  diminutive  awls  bear  to 
these  arrowheads,  the  bases  of  which  are 
reproduced.  Were  there  only  the  lower 
side  projections,  this  implement  would  be 
of  peculiar  interest,  in  that  it  has  been  worn 
to  a  positive  polish,  although  originally 
chipped  into  shape.  The  upper,  smaller  projections  lessen  very  much 
the  value  of  the  implement,  if  looked  upon  as  a  drill,  and  do  not  of 
themselves  offer  any  suggestion  as  to  the  purposes  for  which  the  imple 
ment  may  have  been  used.  The  extremely  dull  point  shows  con 
clusively  that  whatever  may  have  been  its  condition  originally,  it  now 
has  no  penetrative  power. 


FIG.  105. — New  Jersey,    -f. 


DRILLS,    AWLS    OR   PERFORATORS.  Up 

Objects  like  fig.  105,  although  few  in  number,  have  been  met  with 
in  widely  separated  localities.  Specimens,  differing  in  no  important 
feature,  not  even  in  size,  and  all  with  a  polish  produced  apparently 
by  long  usage,  are  known  from  Ohio,  Wisconsin,  western  New  York, 
central  Pennsylvania,  and  New  Jersey. 

Notwithstanding  some  slight  resemblance  thereto,  it  seems  wholly 
improbable  that  these  polished  implements  should  have  been  weapons 
of  any  kind.  On  comparing  the  two  forms,  fig.  105  will  be  found  to 
vary  very  much  from  the  flint  daggers  found  in  Tennessee  and  Ar 
kansas. 

Unquestionable  stone  drills  of  this  pattern,  but  smaller,  have  been 
found  in  Illinois,  which  have  the  barb-like  projections  distinctly 
curved,  and  much  longer  than  those  of  fig.  105.  Others,  again,  have 
these  lateral  projections  of  greater  width  than  length,  thus  giving  the 
implements  the  appearance  of  birds  with  outspread  wings.  No  ex 
amples  of  these  have  been  found  in  New  Jersey,  except  a  fragmentary 
specimen  of  the  latter,  made  of  argillite,  which  is  now  in  the  Museum 
of  Archaeology  at  Cambridge,  Mass. 


CHAPTER     VIII 


SCRAPERS. 


To  an  easily  recognized  class  of  chipped  stone  implements,  found 
more  or  less  abundantly  throughout  Europe  and  North  America,  has 
been  applied  the  name  "  scraper,"  a  term  that  at  once  gives  the  reader 
a  full  insight  into  the  object  of  the  implement.  These  so-called 
scrapers  have  been  described28  as  "  oblong  stones,  one  end  of  which 
is  rounded  and  brought  to  a  bevelled  edge  by  a  series  of  small  blows. 
One  side  is  flat,  the  other  or  outer  one  is  more  or  less  convex ;  some 
times  they  have  a  short  handle,  which  gives  them  very  much  the 
appearance  of  a  spoon.  They  have  been  found  in  England,  France, 
Denmark,  Ireland,  Switzerland,  and  other  countries.  They  vary  from 
one  to  four  inches  in  length,  and  from  half  an  inch  to  two  inches  in 
breadth.  *  *  *  *  Modern  specimens  (Esquimaux)  are  in  form  iden 
tical  with  the  old  ones." 

Along  our  northern  Atlantic  seaboard,  the  abundance  of  these 
scrapers  varies  exceedingly.  In  New  Jersey,  they  are  very  common 
wherever  relics  of  any  kind  occur ;  and  the  various  forms  are  as  well 
represented  as  in  Ohio,  whence  come  the  finest  examples  of  this, 
as  well  as  other  forms  of  chipped  implements.  In  the  Connecticut 
valley,  they  are  less  abundant,  though  in  nowise  scarce ;  while  in 
eastern  Massachusetts  they  are  very  seldom  found.  In  the  various 
river  valleys  of  New  York,  they  occur  frequently ;  but  judging  from 
the  collections  from  that  section,  they  are  not  as  abundant  as  in  the 
Delaware  and  Connecticut  river  valleys ;  although  I  learn  from  Rev. 
W.  M.  Beauchamp  of  Baldwinsville,  New  York,  that  in  Onondaga 

28  Lubbock,  Prehistoric  Times,  ad  ed.,  p.  gz. 

(121) 


122  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

county,  scrapers  are  abundant,  and  of  many  forms,  and  often  com 
bined  with  knives. 

It  is  not  impossible  that  one  reason  for  the  absence  of  this  useful 
implement  in  some  localities  is  that  other  material  than  stone  was  used 
in  their  manufacture,  and  they  have  been  destroyed.  Nature  provides 
in  the  shells  of  certain  bivalves,  excellent  scrapers  which  would  effect 
all  that  the  Indian  ever  accomplished  with  those  made  of  flint.  When 
resident  throughout  the  year,  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  sea,  it  is 
well  known  that  many  implements  of  shell  were  daily  in  use ;  and 
hence,  to-day,  as  we  wander  along  the  shellheaps  and  coastwise 
haunts  of  the  Indians,  we  find  fewer  stone  implements  and  a  smaller 
variety  of  them  than  occur  in  the  fields  that  border  on  our  inland 
streams. 

While  the  term  "scraper"  suggests  at  once,  that  something  was 
scraped,  it  does  not  imply  any  particular  object,  although  the  fact  that 
the  skins  of  mammals  needed  careful  working,  and  scraping  particu 
larly,  to  be  available  for  clothing,  is  so  well  known,  that  skinscraping  is 
the  supposition  on  the  part  of  every  one  who  meets  with  the  term 
"scraper,"  so  far  as  it  describes  a  class  of  stone  implements.  Many 
of  these  scrapers,  however,  are  of  such  small  size,  that  it  is  doubtful 
if  they  could  have  been  used  advantageously  for  any  such  purpose  ; 
yet  their  abundance  and  the  care  with  which  they  are  finished  show 
conclusively  that  they  played  an  important  part  in  the  production  of 
some  object  in  constant  use.  It  is  more  probable  that  they  were  used 
in  making  bone  beads  and  similar  trinkets,  than  in  any  other  way. 

Fig.  1 06  represents  a  jasper  scraper,  of  the  simplest  form  and  of 
the  maximum  size.  Of  a  series  of  over  five  hundred  examples  of  this 
pattern  of  stone  implement,  none  are  larger,  and  but  three  are  more 
than  half  its  size.  If  classified  according  to  size,  this  would  be  taken 
as  a  typical  specimen ;  but  it  cannot  be  so  considered  among  the 
series  of  scrapers  as  represented  in  the  area  of  the  northern  Atlantic 
seaboard.  Certainly,  scrapers  of  this  size  are  of  very  exceptional 
occurrence. 

As  is  the  case  in  ninety  per  cent,  of  the  scrapers  from  New  Jersey, 


SCRAPERS.  123 

and  in  all  such  as  have  been  examined  from  New  England  localities,  the 
working  edge  of  this  implement  shows  no  indication  of  wear  as  might 
be  expected,  even  if  a  substance  no  harder  than  deerskin  was  rubbed 
with  it.  The  grit  that  would  be  certain  to  be  upon  such  skins  would 


FIG.  106. — New  Jersey.  FIG.  io6«.  —  Side  view. 

be  sufficient  to  produce  a  few  striae  ;  and  yet  on  this,  as  upon  hundreds  of 
others,  there  is  no  indication  that  the  specimen  was  ever  in  use.  An 
implement  as  large  as  fig.  106  was  probably  used  without  a  handle  of 
any  kind ;  at  least  it  needs  none,  if  used  in  the  manner  suggested. 
This  pattern,  but  of  smaller  size,  when  used  by  the  Eskimo,  was 
mounted  in  a  small  wooden  or  bone  handle. 

Fig.  107  represents  a  flake  of  green  jasper,  that  has  been  utilized 
as  a  scraper,  by  giving  to  it  a  distinctly  bevelled  edge.     The  under  side 


I24 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 


presents  but  a  single  plane,  and  but  little  alteration  was  needed  to 
convert  the  flake  into  the  excellent  scraper  it  now  is.  Flakes,  thus 
used,  constitute  about  one-fifth  of  the  whole  number  found.  This,  at 
least,  is  true  of  these  implements  as  found  in  New  Jersey,  where  of  a 
series  of  five  hundred  and  five,  ninety-seven  were  flakes  similar  to  the 
preceding,  and  the  one  here  figured.  There  is  such  an  abundance  of 
available  flakes,  like  fig.  107,  among  the  chips  made  by  the  ancient 
arrowmakers,  that  it  remains  a  wonder  why  such 
elaborately  wrought  scrapers  should  ever  have 
been  made ;  and  yet,  in  fact,  they  outnumber 
the  no  less  desirable  flake-scrapers,  five  to  one. 
Flakes  converted  into  scrapers,  like  fig.  107,  are 
not  of  such  irregular  and  indefinite  shapes  as  the 
term  "flake  "  implies.  Fully  three-fourths  of  them 
are  symmetrically  triangular,  or  vary  therefrom  to- 
'  wards  a  four-sided  implement.  The  majority  are 
not  as  irregular  even  as  fig.  107  in  outline. 

Occasionally,  flake-scrapers  like  the  above,  are 
found  with  a  distinctly  knife-like,  or  cutting  edge  on  the  end  opposite 
that  which  is  bevelled,  showing  that  a  combination  of  the  two  forms  of 
knife  and  scraper  was  desired.  It  may  not  be  mere  fancy  to  suppose 
that  such  implements  were  used  in  scaling  and  cleaning  fish ;  especially 
as  some  of  the  larger  forms  have  been  found  in  shellheaps  with  a  large 
quantity  of  fish  bones.  It  may  be  well  here  to  remark  that  fish  consti 
tuted  a  very  important  factor  in  the  food  supplies  of  the  Indians  of  the 
Atlantic  coast,  and  our  principal  river  valleys ;  and  it  can  scarcely  be 
questioned  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  stone  implements  now  found 
along  these  river  valleys,  and  in  the  shellheaps  of  the  seacoast,  were 
designed  for  the  capture  and  subsequent  conversion  into  food  of  the 
hundreds  of  edible  fishes  found  in  those  waters.29 


FIG.  107.  —  New  Jersey. 


29  In  a  notice  of  various  shellheaps  along  the  Massachusetts  coast,  Professor  Putnam  refers  to  the 
great  quantities  of  the  bones  of  the  Monkfish,  or  Wolf-fish  {Anarrhicas  lupus),  now  regarded  as 
unfit  for  food.  More  than  two-thirds  of  the  fish  bones  of  some  heaps  were  those  of  this  species. 
Bulletin,  Essex  Institute,  Salem,  Mass.,  Vol.  iv,  p.  123. 


SCRAPERS. 


I25 


Fig.  108  represents  a  large  slate  scraper  of  a  pattern  quite  common 
in  Europe,  but  less  frequently  met  with  in  eastern  North  America. 
The  bevelled  edge  is  not  as  distinctly  chipped  as  in  jasper  specimens ; 
or,  if  it  were  originally  well  wrought,  it  has  by  use  become  very  jagged 
and  rough.  The  material,  slate,  however,  does  not  flake  readily,  and 
the  objects  made  of  it  are  usually  quite  rough,  and  compare  very  un 
favorably  with  the  jasper  specimens  of  similar  patterns.  Where  slate 


FIG. 


.  —  New  Jersey. 


FIG.  109.  —  New  Jersey, 


is  in  place,  it  was  used  to  a  large  extent,  even  when  other  and  more 
desirable  stone  could  be  readily  obtained. 

Fig.  109  represents  a  symmetrical  specimen  of  a  scraper.  The 
material  of  which  it  is  made  is  jasper,  and  the  care  shown  in  the 
chipping  is  very  marked.  The  front  or  working  edge  is  beautifully 
bevelled,  and  shows  (as  is  so  rarely  the  case)  a  faint  trace  of  polish 
and  striae,  indicative  of  the  presence  of  grit,  or  of  its  use  in  some 


126 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


other  capacity  than  scraping  skins.  The  handle,  or  narrower  portion  of 
the  implement  is  evenly  chipped  and  brought  to  a  sharp  edge,  both 
along  the  sides  and  at  the  end.  It  is  probable  that  this  trimming  of 
the  handle  was  for  the  ready  insertion  of  the  implement  into  a  bone 
socket,  rather  than  that  the  delicately  chipped  margins  were  intended 
for  cutting.  Of  the  various  patterns  of  scrapers  that  are  found  in 
New  Jersey,  none  are  more  suggestive  of  use  in  connection  with  a 
handle  than  such  as  this  specimen.  Fig.  109  is  almost  identical  with 
the  modern  Eskimo  scraper,  figured  in  Prehistoric  Times,  p.  93,  figs. 
106-108,  and  varies  out  little  from  an  ancient  specimen  from  the  south 
of  France,  figured  on  p.  92,  of  the  same  work.  It  would  appear  then, 

that  these  scrapers  occur,  as 
do  arrowheads,  over  a  large 
portion  of  the  globe,  and  are 
of  essentially  the  same  shapes 
and  sizes. 

Figs,  no  and  in  represent 
two  smaller  scrapers  that  differ 
from  such  as  have  been  de 
scribed,  in  having  an  edge  not 
bevelled  from  one  side  only, 
but  from  both,  thus  giving 
it  not  an  ordinary  straight 
chipped  cutting  edge,  but  an  oval  one.  Even  those  that  are  most  like 
the  larger  knives,  do  not  seem  to  have  had  cutting  edges,  which  have 
become  dulled  by  use.  This  rounded  rather  than  bevelled  edge  does 
not  make  of  these  implements  a  desirable  form  of  scraper,  as  we  un 
derstand  their  use ;  but  it  seems  more  rational  to  class  them  as 
such  rather  than  to  consider  them  as  cutting  implements,  as  has  been 
done. 

While  implements  with  an  edge  similar  to  that  of  the  "  round-nosed 
turning  chisel"  may  be  considered  as  typical  scrapers,  those  here 
described  must  be  classed  as  a  modification  of  the  former,  until  it  is 
shown  that  they  were  intended  for  some  purpose  of  a  wholly  different 


FIG.  no. — New  Jersey.    \-, 


SCRAPERS. 


127 


character.  In  fig.  in,  we  have  an  example  of  this  pattern  with  the 
edge  slightly  bevelled,  or  rather  somewhat  approaching  the  charac 
teristic  bevelled  edge. 

As  a  class,  these  specimens  constitute  but  a  small  percentage  of  the 
whole  number  of  typical  scrapers,  found  in  New  Jersey. 

In  figs.  112  and  113  are  represented  examples  of  the  smallest-sized 
scrapers,  found  in  any  locality  along  the  northern  Atlantic  seaboard. 
These  small  scrapers  are  invariably  made  of  quartz  or  jasper,  and  have 
all  the  symmetry  and  care  in  finish  that  characterize  the  specimens  of 
larger  size.  In  many  of  them, 
the  working  edge  is  even  more 
carefully  chipped.,  and  when  the 
specimen  is  a  flake,  or  chipped 
only  on  one  side,  the  character 
istic  features  of  the  scraper  are 
better  shown  on  these  smallest 
specimens,  than  on  the  majority 
of  those  of  the  medium  size.  In 
fig.  1 12  we  have  a  specimen  that 
has  been  chipped  upon  both 
sides,  but  the  under  side  is  al 
most  as  smooth  and  even  as  if 
it  were  a  single  plane.  Fig.  113 
is  a  flake,  and  has  the  under  side 


FIG.  in.  —  New  Jersey,    -f4 


perfectly  smooth,  but  is  slightly  curved  in  the  direction  of  the 
bevelling  of  the  working  edge. 

In  New  Jersey  these  small  scrapers  are  comparatively  abundant. 
Of  a  series  of  five  hundred,  eighty-six  are  less  than  an  inch  in  length, 
and  seventy-five  per  cent,  of  these  are  triangular  flakes,  chipped  only 
upon  one  side. 

So  large  a  number  of  these  diminutive  objects  have  been  found, 
that  it  is  evident  they  were  in  common  use  for  some  purpose ; 
and  the  fact  that  they  are  almost  always  found  on  known  village 


128 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


FIG.  112.  —  New 
Jersey.     |. 


sites  would  indicate  that  they  were  used  in  the  manufacture  of 
some  other  article,  and  not,  like  a  knife  or  spearpoint,  carried 
about  the  person. 

Fig.  114  is  supposed  to  be  a  jasper  scraper,  although  the  working 
edge  is  not  bevelled,  but  has  been  produced  by  de 
taching  a  single  flake  along  the  entire  width  of  the 
specimen.  This  gives  the  implement  a  curved  edge 
which  is  exceedingly  well  adapted  to  scraping,  whether 
it  was  ever  so  used  or  not.  The  end  supposed  to  be 
inserted  in  a  wooden  or  bone  handle  is  pointed,  and, 
were  it  not  so  short,  would  seem  of  better  shape  for 
secure  hafting,  than  when  broader.  Scrapers  of  this 
pattern  occur  in  Europe,  and  in  some  instances  they  have  the 
pointed  end  more  tapering  and  drill-like,  than  in 
the  example  here  figured. 

Fig.  115  represents  a  scraper  made  of  slate,  and 
is  a  modification  of  the  triangular  pattern.  It  is 
even  more  distinctly  stemmed  than  in  the  preceding 
instance.  The  working  edge  is  not  distinctly  bev 
elled,  but  it  has  been  apparently,  and  is  remarkable 
as  being  unusually  curved.  This  scraper  is  greatly  weathered,  and  in 
places  is  so  smooth  that  all  traces  of  the  originally  chipped  surfaces 

have  disappeared.  This  material,  slate, 
was  used  for  scrapers  much  less  than 
argillite,  and  all  the  specimens  of  this 
mineral  that  have  been  gathered  have  been 
of  the  rudest  character,  both  as  to  shape 
and  finish.  Possibly  they  were  made  for 
some  emergency  and  then  cast  aside. 

Fig.  1 1 6  represents  a  handsomely  shaped 
and  carefully  chipped   scraper,  of  brown 

FIG.  114. -New  Jersey,    f  .^^       ^    ^     ^^     ^.^    ^    CQmmon 

with   the   preceding,  but  differs  materially  in   others.     The  working 


FIG.  113.  —  New 
Jersey.     |. 


SCRAPERS. 


29 


edge  is  unusually  narrow  for  the  length,  but  the  bevelled  edges  are 
continued  along  the  sides,  nearly  to  the  commencement  of  the  nar 
rowed  portion  or  handle  of  the  implement. 

Of  the  few  examples  of  true  scrapers  from  New  England,  none  ap 
pear  to  be  of  this  pattern,  which  is  quite  common  in  New  Jersey. 
Even  such  as  are  found  in  the  Connecticut  valley  seldom  have  a  stem 
or  handle,  which  portion  is  often  of  better  finish  than  represented  in 
the  figure. 

The  ordinary  scrapers  found  in  New  Jersey  and  northward  do  not 


FIG.  115.  — New  Jersey. 


FIG.  116. —  New  Jersey.     -j-. 


appear  to  be  of  common  occurrence  in  the  more  southern  states, 
although  in  Ohio  and  Indiana,  they  are  even  more  abundant.  In  the 
series  of  stone  implements  described  by  Col.  C.  C.  Jones,  jr.,  in 
"  Antiquities  of  the  Southern  Indians,"  there  are  no  examples  of 
stemmed,  or  oval  scrapers,  nor  of  the  other  more  finished  patterns 
that  occur  in  New  Jersey ;  except  such  as  are  supposed  to  be  made 
from  the  bases  of  broken  arrow  and  spearpoints.  On  the  other  hand 
there  have  been  no  examples  found  here  of  the  large  polished  stone 
scrapers,  with  a  celt-like  edge,  and  a  square  stem-like  handle.  These 


1 3o 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


so-called  scrapers,  which  are  sometimes  perforated  at  the  junction  of 
the  blade  and  handle,  are  peculiarly  a  southern  form. 

Fig.  117  represents  a  large  stemmed  scraper,  of  about  the  largest 
size.    This  specimen  is  made  of  slate,  rudely  chipped  upon  both  sides, 


FIG.  117.  —  New  Jersey.     -\. 

and  nas  not  a  distinctly  bevelled  edge.  The  surface  is  now  much 
weathered  and  of  a  yellowish  hue  ;  but  the  slate  of  which  the  speci 
men  is  made  is  of  a  deep  bluish-black  color.  There  are  some  slight 
traces  of  wear  upon  the  working  edge,  and  there  may  have  been  many 
more,  before  the  surface  became  so  decomposed  from  long  exposure. 


SCRAPERS. 


When  referring,  in  a  preceding  paragraph  to  the  absence  of  any  ex 
amples  of  polished  stone  scrapers,  such  as  those  described  from  Georgia, 
it  was  more  with  reference  to  their  being  a  polished  instead  of  a  chipped 
implement;  for  in  size  and  outline, 
fig.  117  is  practically  the  same  imple 
ment,  and,  if  polished,  would  be  indis 
tinguishable  from  those  found  in 
Georgia.  Not  all  of  the  sou  hern 
polished  scrapers,  however,  are  of  as 
hard  a  stone  as  diorite.  There  is  a 
specimen  from  Arkansas,  in,  the 
Museum  at  Cambridge,  made  of 
cannel  coal,  and  another  from  Ten 
nessee,  made  of  a  comparatively  soft,  slaty  rock.  Scrapers  of  this 
pattern  of  fig.  117  are  very  rarely  met  with  in  New  Jersey,  and  are  all 
the  more  interesting,  since  in  shape  and  size  they  bear  so  great  a  re 
semblance  to  the  polished  specimens  from  the  south.  In  the  three 
following  illustrations,  figs.  118,  119,  and  120,  we  have  excellent 


FIG.  1 1 8.  — New  Jersey,    -f. 


FIG.  119.  — New  Jersey,    j.  FIG.  120. —  New  Jersey.    |. 

average  examples  of  the  ordinary  jasper  stemmed  scrapers,  such  as 
occur  in  wonderful  abundance,  throughout  much  of  the  area  of  New 
Jersey,  and  less  abundantly  in  New  York  and  New  England.  These 
scrapers  are  quite  uniform  in  size  and  vary  but  little  in  design.  The 


1^2  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

great  majority  have  a  distinctly  bevelled  edge,  which  in  some  cases 
is  of  remarkable  finish,  from  the  small  size  and  uniform  direction  of 
the  facets.  In  some,  the  chipping  of  the  edge  has  been  from  both 
sides.  Whether  such  are  really  scrapers,  or  stemmed  knives,  is  a 
matter  of  doubt.  As  we  find,  however,  a  well-marked  form  of  stemmed 
knives  which  are  always  much  thinner,  and  differ  materially  from  these 
in  other  respects,  it  is  probable  that  although  not  bevelled,  the  edges 
of  such  as  are  chipped  upon  both  sides  were  used  as  scrapers,  and  not 
as  cutting  implements. 

From  an  undoubted  likeness  to  the  bases  of  spearheads,  it  has  been 
very  generally  supposed  that  scrapers  of  this  pattern  were  usually,  if 
not  always,  made  by  utilizing  the  bases  of  such  spearpoints  as  happened 
to  get  broken.  To  some  extent  this  may  have  been  true,  but  that  it 
was  generally  so  is  evidently  a  mistake.  A  careful  examination  of  a 
large  series  of  these  stemmed  scrapers  shows,  in  very  many,  a  gentle 
curve  of  the  whole  implement  in  the  bevelling  of  the  edge,  which,  if 
continued  throughout  the  entire  length  of  a  spearpoint  of  a  size  pro 
portionate  to  the  supposed  base,  would  make  the  implement  too 
crooked  to  be  of  any  value  as  a  weapon.  Again,  we  see  in  every 
large  series,  a  gradation  from  the  triangular  or  quadrangular  flake  to 
such  as  are  distinctly  stemmed  ;  and  more  important  than  all,  numer 
ous  specimens  have  been  found  in  refuse  heaps  of  flint  chips,  which 
have  had  the  bevelled  edge  complete,  but  in  consequence  of  some 
unseen  flaw  in  the  mineral,  the  stem  had  not  been  made,  and  the 
specimen  in  this  unfinished  condition  had  been  rejected.  It  should 
be  remembered  too,  that  spearpoints  would  most  likely  be  broken  in 
hunting  or  in  warfare,  and  in  either  case,  the  chances  of  finding  the 
broken  weapons  would  be  quite  small,  as  they  did  not  then  fall  upon 
cultivated  fields  or  stretches  of  grassy  meadows,  but  in  dense  forest 
growths  or  tangled  thickets,  where  they  would  remain  unnoticed  even 
by  the  keen-eyed  natives. 

That  stemmed  scrapers  were  as  much  an  independently  designed 
implement,  as  spears  or  arrowheads,  is  proved  by  the  occurrence  of 
such  flakes  as  fig.  121  which  is  carefully  chipped  along  the  sides  for 


SCRAPERS. 


FIG.  i2i.  — New 
Jersey.     -J . 


the  express  purpose  of  producing  a  well-marked,  stem-like  projection. 
Flakes,  thus  worked,  are  not  chance  occurrences,  but  are  quite  fre 
quently  found,  and  so  have  a  direct  bearing  upon 
the  question. 

Figs.  122  and  123  represent  two  examples  of 
another  form  of  stemmed  scrapers  which  are  much 
less  common  in  New  Jersey,  and  are  very  rarely 
seen  in  New  England.  The  same  objections  to 
classing  them  as  rechipped  arrowpoints,  that  have 
been  urged  with  reference  to  the  preceding  speci 
mens,  hold  good  in  these  cases.  In  fig.  122,  we 
have,  it  is  true,  a  specimen  equally  chipped  upon 
both  sides,  and  possessing  no  feature  which  may  not  have  been  equally 
common  to  an  arrowhead,  but  in  fig.  123  we  have  an  instance  of  the 

same  pattern  of  scraper  chipped  directly 
from  a  flake  of  quartzite,  which  shows  that 
such  scrapers  were  not  always  made  from 
the  broken  fragments  of  other  kinds  of 
implements.  It  is  very  seldom  that  we 
meet  with  scrapers  of  this  pattern  as  small 
as  this,  and  with  the  bases  so  very  deeply 
notched.  The  object  of  this  is  difficult  to 
determine.  Indeed,  were  these  scrapers, 
in  all  cases,  the  utilized  bases  of  spear  and 
arrowpoints,  they  would  be  much  more  in 
telligible  ;  for  certainly  as  a  simple  instrument  for  scraping  either  skin 
or  bone,  those  of  plain  triangular  outline  or  with 
short  straight  stems  have  every  advantage  pos 
sessed  by  figs.  122  and  123. 

Figs.  124  and  125  represent  two  examples  of 
a  form  of  supposed  scraper,  of  which  a  number 

FIG.  123.  —  New  Jersey. 

of  specimens  have  been  found   in   one    limited 
locality.     The  bases  are  chipped  so  as  to  give  them  distinctly  bev 
elled  edges,  and  the  pointed  ends  are  so  shaped  as  strongly  to  sug- 


FlG.  122. —  Indiana. 


134  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

gest  the  idea  that  these  implements  are  combinations  of  the  scraper 
and  the  drill.  If  so,  they  were  probably  used  in  the  manufacture  of 
small  articles  from  steatite  and  other  soft  minerals,  and  not  as  scrapers 
of  the  common  patterns  were  used.  The  pointed  end  of  fig.  125 
clearly  shows  evidences  of  wear,  such  as  would  be  produced  by  con 
stantly  boring  or  drilling  other  stones  ;  and  there  seems  no  reason  why 
scrapers  like  these  should  not  have  been  used  to  rub  down,  to  a  uni 
form  surface,  such  slabs  of  slate  and  sandstone  as  were  used  for  pen 
dants,  gorgets  and  ornamental  objects  of  that  character.  Until  we 
find  the  workshop-site  and  refuse  of  the  worker  in  stone,  who  made 
ornaments  instead  of  arrowheads,  it  will  be  impossible  to  say  just  what 


FIG.  124.  —  New  Jersey.  FIG.  125.  —  New  Jersey.     {• 

methods  were  pursued  in  making  some  of  the  commonest  objects  of 
this  character ;  but  that  the  combined  drills  and  scrapers  here  figured 
were  put  to  some  such  use  seems  far  more  probable,  than  that  they 
were  simply  skin-dressers. 

Fig.  126  represents  a  chipped  implement  that  has  much  the  ap 
pearance  of  a  knife,  and  also  closely  resembles  the  chipped  flint  "sling- 
stones"  that  occur  in  Europe.  In  this  instance,  it  is  believed  to  be 
a  scraper.  Scrapers  with  battered  edges,  and  of,a  quadrangular  outline, 
very  similar  in  general  appearance  to  the  modern  "  strike-a-lights  "  are 
rare.  Fig.  126  represents  such  a  "scraper."  It  is  of  yellow  jasper, 
an  inch  and  a  half  long,  an  inch  wide,  and  half  an  inch  thick  near  the 
middle  of  the  specimen.  The  front  edge  is  much  battered  and  has 


SCRAPERS.  135 

every  appearance  of  having  been  struck  against  a  mineral  as  hard  as 
pyrites. 

Pyrites,  in  masses  of  various  sizes,  is  very  abundant  about  Trenton, 
N.  J.,  where  these  short,  thick  scrapers  are  found.  It  occurs  in  the 
beds  of  Jurasso-cretaceous  clay  which  crop  out  of  the  hillsides  along 
the  New  Jersey  shore  of  the  Delaware,  near  Trenton,  New  Jersey, 
being  there  attached  in  large  masses  to  the  fossil  trees  embedded  in 
these  strata. 

The  conclusive  evidence  brought  forward  by  Mr.  Evans,30  that  many 
of  these  short,  thick  "scrapers"  were  used  in  connection  with  pyrites 
for  producing  fire,  has  rendered  it  probable  that  in  this  country  also, 
such  may  have  been  the  use  of  these  thick, 
quadrangular  masses  of  jasper,  which,  while 
resembling  scrapers,  have  battered  edges,  and 
in  all  respects  are  just  such  forms  as  might  be 
supposed  to  have  been  used  for  this  purpose ; 
nor  do  we  lack  historical  evidence  that  the 
Indians  of  the  Atlantic  coast,  to  some  extent  at 
least,  were  accustomed  to  procure  fire  in  this 
manner.  John  Brereton,  in  his  Brief  and  True 
Relation  of  the  Discovery  of  the  North  Part  FlG.  I26._New  Jersey.  ±t 
of  Virginia  (London,  1602)  says  of  the  Mas 
sachusetts  Indians,  "they  strike  fire  in  this  manner;  every  one  car- 
rieth  about  him  in  a  purse  of  tewed  leather,  a  mineral  stone  (which  I 
take  to  be  their  copper),  and  with  a  flat  emery  stone  (wherewith 
glaciers  cut  glass,  and  cuttlers  glaze  blades),  tied  fast  to  the  end 
of  a  little  stick,  gently  he  striketh  upon  the  mineral  stone,  and  within 
a  stroke  or  two,  a  spark  falleth  upon  a  piece  of  touch  wood  (much 
like  our  sponge  in  England),  and  with  the  least  spark  he  maketh  a  fire 
presently." 

While  it  is  possible  that  knowledge  of  this  method  of  producing 
fire  was  derived  from  the  Europeans,  who,  for  more  than  a  century 


30  Ancient  Stone  Implements  of  Great  Britain,  p.  280. 


i36 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


previous  to  the  visit  of  Brereton,  had  occasionally  visited  the  New 
England  coast,  it  is  not  clear  how  the  Indians  learned  to  use  pyrites, 
which  Brereton  evidently  mistook  for  their  copper,  as  a  substitute  for 
iron  or  steel.  It  is  highly  improbable  that  the  knowledge  of  the  fact, 
that  iron  pyrites  would  answer  the  same  purpose  as  steel  in  producing 
fire,  was  likewise  derived  from  European  visitors  to  our  coast ;  and,  if 
not,  the  statement  of  Brereton  gives  us  evidence  of  a  custom,  which 
subsequently  fell  into  disuse,  as  it  is  not  known  that  any  tribes  of 
Indians,  either  south  or  west  of  Massachusetts,  ever  procured  fire  in 

this  manner,  unless  we  accept  the 
abundance  of  these  short,  thick 
scrapers  as  evidence  of  a  custom, 
which  is  so  clearly  described  as,  at 
one  time,  common  among  the  New 
England  tribes. 

Fig.  127  represents  a  form  of  what 
may  properly  be  called  a  "scraper," 
although  essentially  different  from 
the  ordinary  form  of  stone  imple 
ment  so  called.  The  material  is 
slate,  but  of  so  compact  a  nature, 
that  it  is  susceptible  of  a  considerable 
polish,  which  is  shown  in  the  mar 
gin  of  the  concave  surface  of  this 
scraper,  which  constitutes  the  peculiar  feature  of  the  specimen. 

The  purpose  of  this  implement  is  indicated  by  the  evident  traces 
of  wear  in  the  concave  portion  of  the  front  or  scraping  margin ;  this 
is,  that  of  scraping  the  shafts  of  arrows,  cylindrical  bones,  and  objects 
of  that  shape. 

Mr.  John  Evans  has  given  the  designation  of  "hollow  scraper"  to 
an  implement  of  this  character  (Ancient  Stone  Implements  of  Great 
Britain,  p.  287,  fig.  226),  and  remarks  of  them  "I  have  two  specimens 
with  the  hollow  as  regular  in  its  sweep  as  any  of  the  scrapers  of  the 
ordinary  form.  Tools  of  this  kind  seem  well  adapted  for  scraping 


FIG.  127, —New  Jersey. 


SCRAPERS. 


137 


into  regular  shape  the  stems  of  arrows,  or  the  shafts  of  spears,  or  for 
fashioning  bone  pins." 

As  yet,  but  a  single  specimen  from  New  Jersey  of  these  concave 
scrapers  has  been  brought  to  the  writer's  notice,  although,  next  to  arrow- 
points  and  knives,  ordinary  scrapers  are  the  most  abundant  of  all  the 
forms  of  chipped  implements.  From  this,  it  is  safe  to  conclude  that 
this  form  was  one  not  in  general  use. 

In  the  Susquehanna  valley  scrapers  are 
apparently  less  abundant  than  in  the  valley 
of  the  Delaware,  but  some  interesting  ex 
amples  have  been  obtained.  In  the  collec 
tion  of  the  late  Professor  Haldeman  are, 
among  many  forms,  two  jasper  scrapers 
possessing  the  peculiar  feature  of  fig.  127. 
One  of  them  is  a  flake  one  inch  in  width 
and  two  and  one-half  inches  in  length.  One 
side  is  nearly  straight;  the  other,  with  a 
deep,  accurately  curved  concavity.  The 
bevelled  edges  are  well  worked,  and  the 
specimen  clearly  shows  that  it  was  intended 
for  scraping  convex  surfaces. 

Fig.  128  represents  a  simple  form  of 
scraper  that  is  of  exceeding  interest.  As 
the  illustration  shows,  this  implement  is  not 
chipped,  but  a  simple  flake-like  fragment  of 
an  oval  pebble. 

Attention  was  first  called  to  these  imple 
ments,  as  found  in  New  Jersey,  by  the  publication  by  Prof.  Jos.  Leidy, 
of  a  notice  of  various  rude  flint  implements,  found  near  Fort  Bridger, 
southern  Wyoming.  Of  these,  Dr.  Leidy  remarks,31  "In  this  relation 
I  may  take  the  opportunity  of  speaking  of  a  stone  implement  of  the 
Shoshone  Indians,  one  of  so  simple  a  character  that  had  I  not  observed 


FIG.  128.  — New  Jersey. 


31  Geol.  Survey:  Montana,  etc.     Hayden's  Annual  Report,  1872,  p.  653,  pi.  12,  fig.  13. 


138  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

it  in  actual  use  and  noticed  it  among  the  materials  of  the  buttes,  I  should 
have  viewed  it  as  an  accidental  spawl.  It  consists  of  a  thin  segment  of 
a  quartzite  bowlder,  made  by  striking  the  stone  with  a  smart  blow.  The 
implement  is  circular  or  oval,  with  a  sharp  edge,  convex  on  one  side 
and  flat  on  the  other.  It  is  called  a  'teshoa'  and  is  employed  as  a 
scraper  in  dressing  buffalo  skins.  By  accident,  I  learned  that  the  im 
plement  is  not  only  modern,  as  I  obtained  one  of  the  same  character, 
together  with  some  perforated  tusks  of  the  elk,  from  an  old  Indian 
grave,  which  had  been  made  on  the  upper  side  of  a  butte,  and  had 
become  exposed  by  the  gradual  wearing  away  of  the  latter."  It  is 
not  improbable  that  these  primitive  scrapers  have  a  wide  distribution 
along  the  northern  Atlantic  seaboard,  but  that  thus  far  they  have  been 
generally  overlooked.  Attention  being  called  to  these  western  speci 
mens,  search  was  made  for  the  same  form  in  central  New  Jersey,  and 
on  several  village  sites  numbers  were  found,  some  of  them  showing 
more  traces  of  wear,  from  long  continued  use,  than  is  shown  on  any  of  the 
flint  scrapers  previously  figured  and  described.  These  "  teshoas  "  from 
New  Jersey  differ  from  the  same  implement  as  described  by  Dr.  Leidy 
in  that  the  detached  surface  is  not  generally  flat,  but  is  as  convex  as 
the  corresponding,  or  natural  surface  of  the  pebble.  From  the  smooth 
ness  and  general  appearance  of  this  comparatively  newer  surface,  it  is 
evident  that  the  implement  has  been  detached  by  a  single  blow  from 
the  pebble,  and  that  this  convex  surface  was  then  produced  and  was 
not  the  result  of  subsequent  secondary  chipping.  As  yet  no  examples 
of  pebbles,  from  which  these  implements  have  been  taken,  have  been 
collected.  One  such  would,  by  its  concavity,  at  once  determine 
whether  these  bi-convex  "teshoas"  were  made  by  a  single  dexterous 
blow,  or  whether  subsequent  work  was  necessary  to  give  them  the  out 
line  they  now  have. 


CHAPTER     IX. 


SLICKSTONES  AND  SINEW  DRESSERS. 


WHEN  we  remember  how  important  to  the  Indians  were  the  well 
dressed  skins  of  the  elk,  bear,  deer,  beaver,  otter  and  muskrat,  all  of 
which  mammals  were  once  abundant  throughout  the  northern  and 
middle  states,  it  is  not  strange  that  among  the  many  curious  forms  of 
stone  implements,  that  we  now  gather  from  the  long  deserted  haunts 
of  the  country's  primitive  occupants,  there  should  be  numbers  of  such 
as  were  used  in  dressing  and  preserving  the  skins  of  these  animals. 
As  we  have  already  seen,  one  kind  of  flint  implement,  carefully  chipped, 
was  used  at  one  stage  of  the  process  of  curing  leather.  The  polished 
stone  implements  described  in  the  present  chapter  are  supposed  to 
have  been  used  subsequently  to  the  scrapers,  and  also,  after  the  cured 
skins,  or  leather,  had  been  "made  up"  into  clothing,  while  others, 
curiously  grooved,  were  doubtlessly  of  use  in  reducing  sinews  to  a 
more  compact  condition  in  which  they  served  as  thread. 

We  are  informed  by  Holm,  that  the  Delaware  Indians  could  "tan 
and  prepare  the  skins  of  animals,  which  they  afterwards  paint  in  their 
own  way."  This  knowledge  of  curing  leather  was,  of  course,  common 
to  all  our  coast  tribes,  as  it  is  to-day  to  the  Indians  of  the  far  west, 
and  hence  it  is  no  mere  fanciful  speculation  to  treat  certain  highly 
polished  but  othenvise  unworked  pebbles  as  the  "  slickstones  "  used  by 
the  savages  in  rubbing  their  leather  to  make  it  soft  and  pliable. 

Burnishers  or  slickstones,  as  they  are  generally  called,  are  of  common 
occurrence  in  England,  and  their  purpose  has  been  carefully  explained, 
and  their  history  in  later  times  given  by  Mr.  Evans.32  He  remarks 

33  Evans.     Ancient  Stone  Implements  of  Great  Britain,  p.  394.     London,  1872. 

(139) 


140  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

that  one  "  purpose  to  which  stone  implements  seem  to  have  been  ap 
plied,  in  connection  with  *  *  *  the  preparation  of  leather,  is  that  of 
"burnishing  or  smoothing,  somewhat  in  the  same  manner  as  is  now 
effected  by  the  flat-iron ;"  and  also  records  the  interesting  fact,  that 
"  Mr.  Greenwell  has  a  celt  from  Yorkshire,  which  was  used  by  a  shoe 
maker  for  smoothing  down  the  seams  he  made  in  leather,"  and  adds 
"  the  old  English  name  for  the  smooth  stones  used  for  such  purposes 
is  slickstone."  Following  the  example  of  so  safe  a  guide,  these 
same  stones,  which  are  of  all  sizes  and  a  great  variety  of  patterns,  but 
of  comparatively  uniform  material,  are  treated  as  slickstones. 

The  form  of  this  stone  with  the  series  of  deep,  narrow,  parallel 
grooves,  which  is  in  many  cases,  an  apparent  combination  of  the 
slickstone  and  sinew-dresser,  does  not  appear  to  occur  in  Europe,  but 
it  is  of  very  general  distribution  on  the  North  American  continent. 

Practically  the  same  implement  as  those  here  found  in  great  abun 
dance,  Professor  Nilsson33  has  figured  and  described  as  a  "stretch 
ing  implement."  He  says  of  the  illustration  which  he  gives,  "The 
widened  part,  representing  the  edge,  has  been  rounded  off  by  constant 
wear,  probably  from  being  rubbed  against  leather  or  something  of  that 
kind.  A  person,  who  has  lived  many  years  as  a  mechanic  in  Greenland, 
thinks  he  has  discovered  a  great  resemblance  between  this  stone  im 
plement  and  the  bone  implement,  provided  with  a  handle,  which  is 
there  used  for  stretching  skins  in  order  to  give  them  the  requisite  soft 
ness.  A  somewhat  similar  stretching  implement  of  iron  is  still  used  in 
those  parts  of  Scania  where  the  winter  dress  of  the  peasantry  consists 
of  sheep-skin  coats." 

Fig.  129  represents  an  example  of  polished  pebble,  that  has  been 
altered  little,  if  any,  in  shape.  A  noticeable  feature  is  in  its  being 
perforated  by  five  small  holes,  which  are  natural,  however,  being 
thread-like  veins  of  softer  mineral  which  have  been  drilled  out.  One 
of  these  perforations  occurring  near  the  margin  of  the  stone,  the  stone 
itself  has  been  worn  off  at  that  point  until  much  thinner  than  elsewhere, 

83  Nilsson.     Stone  Age  in  Scandinavia,  p.  77,  and  pi.  ix,  fig.  185.     London,  1868. 


SLICKSTONES   AND    SINEW    DRESSERS. 


141 


and  the  hole  then  enlarged.     A  cord  was  probably  passed  through  this 
hole  to  suspend  the  implement. 

Fig.  130  represents  a  second  example  of  a  pebble,  which  is  not  only 
highly  polished,  but  the  curved  margin  has  been  worn  away,  until  it 


FIG.  129.  —  New  Jersey.     -J-. 

closely  approaches  an  ordinary  small  celt.     This  curved  margin  has 
been  worn  more  upon  one  side  than  the  other,  and  were  it  not  for  the 

faint  striae  that  dull  the  surface 
slightly,  it  would  possess  an  extra 
ordinary  polish.  Knowing  the  pur 
pose  of  these  polished  pebbles,  one 
can  readily  imagine  that  the  ex 
ceeding  smoothness  is  still  due  to 
their  greasy  condition  when  in  con 
stant  use. 

While  the  great  majority  of  slick- 
stones  are  natural  pebbles,  such  as 
the  preceding  specimens,  others 
are  wholly  artificial  in  shape,  and 
possess  in  most  cases,  a  polish  only  equalled  by  the  finer  celts.  Fig. 
131  represents  a  polished  porphyry  pebble,  perfectly  symmetrical, 
and  very  tastefully  designed.  This  specimen  may  be  considered  as  an 
example  of  the  highest  type  of  these  implements. 


FIG.  130.  —New  Jersey,    -f. 


142 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


Slickstones  of  this  pattern  are  of  frequent  occurrence,  although, 
greatly  outnumbered  by  the  natural  pebbles  that  have  been  used  for 
the  same  purpose.  Of  a  series  of  eleven,  all  but  one  are  of  this  material, 

and  all  but  two,  well  pol 
ished.  One  specimen  was 
drilled  in  one  corner,  as 
are  many  of  the  similarly 
shaped  "sinew-dressers." 
None  of  them  appeared 
to  have  been  worn  upon 
any  one  surface  more 
than  another,  and  all 
showed  traces  of  scratch 
es,  as  fine  as  hair  lines, 
which  were  possibly  due 
to  the  grit  that  had  doubt 
lessly  adhered  to  the 
leather  while  in  process 
of  manufacture. 

Slickstones  of  this 
elaborate  pattern  are 
found  over  much  of  the 
area  of  the  middle  states. 
As  they  are  of  so  uniform 
a  size,  when  of  this  pat 
tern,  it  has  been  ques 
tioned  whether  they  had 
not  some  other  use  than 
that  of  rubbing-stones  for 
dressing  leather.  The 
labor  of  grinding  to  their 
present  shape,  and  subsequently  polishing  the  objects,  was  very  consid 
erable,  and  yet,  when  finished,  they  possessed  no  advantage  over  the 
smaller,  irregular  pebbles  used  for  the  same  purpose.  This  objection, 


FIG.  131.  —  New  Jersey. 


SLICKSTONES    AND    SINEW    DRESSERS. 


however,  applies  to  many  other  forms  of  stone  implements,  which  also 
exhibit,  what  to  us  seems  evidence  of  a  vast  deal  of  unnecessary  labor. 
The  remarkable  uniformity  in  size  and  in  material  of  these  implements, 
on  the  other  hand,  deserves  atten 
tion  as  a  feature  of  great  interest. 
All  the  examples  that  I  have  seen 
from  New   Jersey  and  New  York, 
and  those  in  the  cabinet  of  the  late 
Professor  Haldeman,  from  Pennsyl 
vania,  were  remarkably  alike  in  size, 
and   all   made    either  of  porphyry 
or  hornstorie.     Does  this  uniformity 
of  size,  finish  and  material  indicate 
some  unknown  use,  not  connected 
with  skin-dressing? 

Fig.  132  represents  a  pestle- 
shaped  pattern  of  these  slickstones, 
made  of  a  black  hornstone  pebble. 
The  entire  surface  is  very  highly 
polished,  and  the  lower  end,  as 
shown  in  the  illustration,  has  been 
worn  away  until  perfectly  level.  Of 
the  various  forms  of  natural  peb 
bles  chosen  for  slickstones,  few  have 
been  found  that  are  cylindrical, 
although,  when  of  this  size,  they 
seem  most  admirably  adapted  for 
rubbing  seams,  and  otherwise  work 
ing  leather  in  the  course  of  its 

manufacture     intO     clothing.        Of    a  FIG.  i3a.- New  Jersey.     ]. 

series  of  sixty-eight  slickstones  found  on  an  extensive  village  site 
in  Mercer  Co.,  New  Jersey,  there  are  but  three  that  are  strictly 
cylindrical,  and  but  eleven  that  are  materially  longer  than  broad. 
A  few  are  less  than  two  inches  in  length;  but  the  majority  are 


144  PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 

about  five  inches  in  length,  by  three  to  four  in  width,  with  one 
side  more  worn  and  polished  than  the  other.  Black  stones  are 
almost  always  chosen.  In  the  entire  series,  but  two  are  of  white 
quartz,  though  this  mineral  is  susceptible  of  being  worn  very  smooth, 
and  occurs  as  water- worn  pebbles  of  proper  size  and  shape. 

Fig.  133  represents  a  white  marble  slickstone  or  smoothing  imple 
ment  of  altogether  different  pattern  from  any  previously  described, 
but  one  that,  while  rare  in  New  Jersey  and  New  England,  is  of  com 
mon  occurrence  in  the  south  and  west. 

This  specimen  is  made  of  a  pure  white  marble  found  near  Attleboro, 
Bucks  Co.,  Pennsylvania.  The  entire  surface  is  worked,  and  is  quite 
smooth,  though  only  the  flat,  under  surface  has  any  degree  of  polish. 


FIG.  133.  —  New  Jersey.     •]-. 

As  will  be  noticed  in  the  illustration,  this  implement  has  a  groove  ex 
tending  across  the  back  and  sides.  Other  examples  have  the  groove 
extending  lengthwise.  The  purpose  of  these  grooves,  considering  the 
implement  to  be  a  slickstone,  is  not  clear. 

Col.  C.  C.  Jones,  jr.,34  in  his  elaborate  volume  on  the  stone  imple 
ments  and  other  relics  of  the  southern  Indians,  figures  a  specimen  of 
this  pattern  of  slickstone,  but  without  the  groove.  He  remarks,  that 
the  specimen  he  has  figured  "  typifies  a  large  class,  examples  of  which 
abound  in  the  relic-beds  on  the  Savannah  river.  Their  use  is  not  well 
ascertained,  but  their  flat  surfaces  are  very  smooth  as  though  they  had 
been  constantly  employed  in  rubbing." 

34  Jones.     Antiquities  of  the  Southern  Indians,  p.  292,  pi,  xvi,  fig.  9.     New  York,  1873. 


SLICKSTONES  AND    SINEW   DRESSERS. 


Associated  as  relics,  that  mark  the  former  sites  of  Indian  towns,  and 
similar  as  they  are  in  many  particulars,  it  seems  proper  to  place  in  the 
same  chapter,  although  separately  considered,  those  interesting  stone  im 
plements  that  are  identi 
cal  with  the  preceding 
in  every  respect,  save 
that  of  having  a  series  of 
short  and  narrow,  but 
deep  marginal  grooves, 
extending  obliquely  from 
a  short  distance  within 
the  margin  to  the  edge 
of  the  implement.  These 
grooves  are  always  on 
both  sides  of  the  imple 
ment,  and  usually  slant 
from  right  to  left. 

Fig.  134  represents  a 
very  well  marked  exam 
ple  of  this  form  of  im 
plement,  and  one,  too, 
that  possesses  an  ad 
ditional  feature  of  inter 
est,  in  the  hole  drilled 
in  the  upper  left  hand 
corner.  The  number  of 
the  deep,  oblique 
grooves,  characteristic  of 
these  implements,  is  un 
usually  large  on  this  specimen,  generally  the  series  at  the  side  being 
wanting.  While  the  perforation  of  one  corner  of  these  implements 
is  quite  common,  it  is  seldom  that  the  hole  drilled  is  as  large  as  in 
%•  I34?  or  as  far  from  the  margin  of  the  stone.  In  many  specimens 
the  perforation  is  but  one  thirty-second  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  and  so 
10 


FIG.  134.  —  New  Jersey.     -J-. 


146  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

near  the  edge  of  the  stone,  that  the  rim  of  stone,  that  makes  the 
perforation  complete,  is  but  little  broader  than  the  diameter  of  the 
opening. 

When  the  implement  was  drilled,  of  course  this  narrow  rim  of  stone 
must  have  been  somewhat  thicker,  and  it  has  subsequently  been  worn 
away  by  the  friction  of  the  cord  passing  through  it ;  but,  at  the  time, 
the  perforation  must  have  been  so  near  the  margin,  that  the  successful 
accomplishment  of  the  drilling  is  a  source  of  wonder.  Of  the  series  of 
drills  of  all  patterns  that  have  been  gathered  from  the  Atlantic  coast 
states,  not  one  has  yet  been  found  that  could  have  been  used  for  the 
perforation  of  these  implements  in  the  manner  described. 

Fig.  135  represents  a  plainer  example  of  these  objects,  but  one 
that  is  of  more  common  occurrence.  This  and  the  preceding  one 
are  of  about  the  maximum  size  of  this  implement  as  found  in  the  New 
England  or  middle  states. 

These  implements  have  been  long  supposed  to  have  been  used  in 
dressing  sinews,  by  pulling  them  to  and  fro  along  these  grooves. 
Whether  this  be  true  or  not  cannot  be  shown  perhaps,  but  it  seems 
far  more  probable  than  that  they  were  used  in  any  way  as  sharpening 
tools,  for  either  the  edges  of  celts  or  the  points  of  bone  needles. 

In  a  recent  monograph  by  Maj.  W.  H.  Dall,35  that  author  describes 
a  "  rough  figure  of  some  four  footed  animal,  with  a  forked  tail,  perhaps 
used  for  smoothing  down  the  asperities  of  their  sinew  thread  by  draw 
ing  it  through  the  sharp  furrow  in  the  tail.  The  natives  on  the  main 
land  use  a  similar  instrument  for  this  purpose." 

It  is  known  that  sinews  were  used  as  bowstrings,  and  these  might 
have  been  drawn  over  such  deep  furrows,  as  suggested  by  Mr.  Dall ; 
and  possibly  these  same  stones  were  utilized  by  the  Delaware  In 
dians  in  dressing  thread  made  of  other  material.  Holm  records  of 
them,  that  "the  women  spin  thread  and  yarn  out  of  nettles,  hemp 
and  some  plants  unknown  to  us." 


35  Dall.     On  the  Remains  of  Later  Pre-Historic  Man  in  Alaska.     Smithson.  Contributions  to 
Knowledge,  No.  318.     Washington,  D.  C.,  1878. 


SLICKSTONES   AND   SINEW   DRESSERS. 


I47 


Kalm  (Travels  in  North  America,  vol.  ii,  p.  131)  mentions  the  use 
of  a  common  plant  for  thread-making,  as  follows  :  "APOCYNUM  Canna- 
binum  was  by  the  Swedes    called  Hemp  of  the  Indians;  and  grew 
plentifully  in  old  corn- 
grounds,  in  woods,  on 
hills,  and  in  high 
glades.     The  Swedes 
have  given  it  the  name 
of  Indian  hemp,  be 
cause  the  Indians  for 
merly,  and  even  now, 
(1749)    apply   it   to 
the  same  purposes  as 
the  Europeans  do 
hemp ;    for  the  stalls 
may  be  divided  into 
filaments,  and  is  easily 
prepared.    When  the 
Indians  were    settled 
among  the  Swedes,  in 
Pennsylvania   and 
New    Jersey,    they 
made   ropes   of    this 
Apocynum,  which  the 
Swedes   bought,  and 
employed     them     as 
bridles,  and  for  nets. 
These    ropes   were 
stronger,    and    kept 
longer  in  water,  than 
such  as  were  made  of  common  hemp.  *  *  *  The  Indians  likewise 
make  several  other  stuffs  of  their  hemp.     On  my  journey  through 
the  country  of  the  Iroquese,  I  saw  the  women  employed  in  manufac 
turing  this  hemp.     They  made  use  neither  of  spinning-wheels  or  dis- 


FIG.  135.  —  New  Jersey. 


148  PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 

taffs,  but  rolled  the  filaments  upon  their  bare  thighs,  and  made  thread 
and  strings  of  them,  which  they  dyed  red,  yellow,  black,  etc.,  and 
afterwards  worked  them  into  stuffs  with  a  great  deal  of  ingenuity.  *  *  * 
Sometimes  the  fishing  tackle  of  the  Indians  consists  entirely  of  this 
hemp." 

If  such  fibrous  yarn  was  "dressed"  with  grease  or,  indeed,  with  wax, 
and  then  drawn  over  a  groove  in  one  of  these  stones,  it  would  cer 
tainly  be  much  strengthened. 

Considering  then,  the  facts  :  that  sinews  were  utilized  as  bowstrings, 
that  fishing  with  a  line  was  a  constant  occupation,  and  that  nets  were 
woven,  and  we  have  evidence  that  "thread  and  yarn"  were  constantly 
in  use,  and  there  is  much  to  lead  to  the  inference  that  these  grooved 
implements,  if  not  simple  "sinew  dressers,"  were  largely  used  for  pur 
poses  so  similar  as  to  render  the  name  not  wholly  inappropriate. 


CHAPTER    X. 


MORTARS    AND    PESTLES. 


ONE  of  the  few  objects  that,  by  its  mere  presence,  perhaps  more 
vividly  than  all  else,  recalls  the  fact  that  these  goodly  lands  were  once 
tenanted  by  another  and  far  different  people,  is  the  stone  mortar,  fig. 
136,  which,  in  its  history,  is  so  closely  linked  to  that  of  the  invaluable 
article  of  food,  the  maize  or  Indian  corn.  Whether  the  mortar  is 
simply  a  slab  of  sandstone,  with  scarcely  a  depression  upon  it,  a  gra 
nitic  bowlder  with  a  deep  cavity,  or  even  a  natural  hollow  in  a  station 
ary  rock,  its  purpose,  to  the  Indian,  was  the  same.  Within  these 
hollows  the  com  was  pounded  into  meal. 

Holm,36  speaking  of  the  Delaware  Indians,  says  that  "that  they  make 
bread  out  of  the  maize  or  Indian  corn,  which  they  prepare  in  a  manner 
peculiar  to  themselves  j  they  crush  the  grain  between  two  stones,  or 
on  a  large  piece  of  wood."  Loskiel37  states  that  they  grind  the  maize 
"as  fine  as  flour  by  means  of  a  wooden  pestle  and  mortar;"  but  it  is 
not  probable  that  many  mortars  of  wood  were  used,  considering  the 
great  number  of  those  of  stone  that  we  find,  especially  in  New  Jersey. 

Of  the  Delaware  Indians  the  same  author  says  :  "They  are  fond  of 
muscles  and  oysters,  and  those  who  live  near  an  oyster-bed  will  subsist 
for  weeks  together  upon  them.  They  also  eat  the  land-tortoise,  which 
is  about  a  span  broad,  and  rather  more  in  length ;  and  even  locusts 
are  used  for  food.  These  come  frequently  in  large  swarms,  covering 
and  destroying  even  the  bark  of  the  trees." 

As  the  oysters  and  mussels  were  also  dried  in  large  quantities  for 


36  Holm.     History  of  New  Sweden,  p.  121.     Philadelphia,  1834. 

37  Mission  to  North  American  Indians,  p.  67.     London,  1794. 

(149) 


I^O  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

winter  use,  it  is  very  probable  that  mortars  were  also  used  as  a 
receptacle  in  which  to  reduce  the  dried  shell-fish  to  a  sort  of  powder 
or  pulp.  This,  mixed  with  the  corn-meal,  made  a  dough,  or  batter, 
not  unlike  the  modern  "fritters."  It  was  a  common  practice  with  the 
Indians  to  mix  other  articles  of  food  with  the  meal  made  from  maize. 
Loskiel  mentions  their  mixing  dried  bilberries  with  corn-meal,  and 
also  smoked  eels  chopped  fine. 

"Hunter  informs  us  that,  in  some  of  the  Indian  villages  visited  by 
him,  there  were  one  or  two  large  stone  mortars  for  pounding  corn, 
which  were  public  property.  These  were  placed  in  a  central  part  of 
the  village,  and  were  used  in  rotation  by  the  different  families."38 

Mortars  are  of  various  forms. 
In  the  first  place  the  Indians  not 
unfrequently  utilized  for  this  purpose 
the  natural  hollows  or  depressions 
that  are  found  in  stationary  rocks. 
Others  of  smaller  size  were  made 
by  pecking  a  deep  cavity  in  a  globu 
lar  or  cubical  block  of  stone  as  in 
fig.  1^6.  while  in  still  other  in- 

FlG.  136.  — Massachusetts. 

stances  they  simply  made  use  of  a 

flat  slab  of  stone  into  which  a  shallow  depression  was  worn,  the  result 
of  long  usage  rather  than  of  design. 

The  wooden  mortars,  having  nearly  all  decayed  and  therefore  known 
generally  by  the  historical  references  to  them,  need  only  to  be  referred 
to  as  having  once  been  used ;  but  to  what  extent,  in  comparison  with 
those  of  stone,  is  not  known. 

Fig.  137  represents  an  enormous  glacial  bowlder,  portions  of  which 
still  remain  in  view  in  Centre  street,  Trenton,  N.  J.  The  hollow  or 
basin  in  this  rock  is  of  natural  origin,  being  a  "pot-hole,"  as  such  de 
pressions  are  called  by  geologists.  The  pestle  that  is  represented  in 

38  Stevens.  Flint-Chips,  p.  546,  quoting  from  Hunter's  Manners  and  Customs  of  Indian  Tribes, 
p. 269.  London,  1870. 


MORTARS   AND   PESTLES.  15! 

the  illustration  was  found  so  near  the  supposed  mortar,  that  it  is  quite 
probable  it  was  used  in  connection  with  it ;  but  the  evidence  that 
this  " pot-hole"  was  used  as  a  mortar  rests  upon  the  fact,  that  the  rock 
occupies  a  position,  once  the  very  centre  of  a  populous  Indian  village, 
and  that  in  excavating  cellars  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  this  rock, 
besides  numbers  of  other  relics,  many  broken  and  some  short,  un 
broken  pestles  were  found.  It  is  probable,  too,  that  the  natural  cavity 
has  been  somewhat  deepened  by  use,  but  the  rock  being  unusually 
hard  and  unyielding,  it  is  difficult  to  determine  to  what  extent,  if  any, 
this  may  have  been  done. 

Bowlders  with  these  natural  basins,  although  too  heavy  to  be  moved 


FIG.  137.  —  New  Jersey. 

by  any  one  person,  were  occasionally  transported  to  quite  distant 
points,  and  there  used  in  common  by  the  people  of  the  village,  to 
whom  they  belonged.  One  such,  to  which  reference  is  made  in  local 
history,  formerly  occupied  a  prominent  position  in  what  is  supposed  to 
have  been  the  public  square  of  a  village,  situated  near  Yardville,  Mercer 
Co.,  New  Jersey.  This  mortar,  now  in  the  Archaeological  Museum  at 
Cambridge,  Mass.,  is  a  large  mass  of  Potsdam  sandstone,  weighing 
about  one  hundred  pounds,  with  a  deep,  circular  basin  in  it.  It  is 
known  to  have  been  used  by  the  Indians,  as  recently  as  1 720. 


1^2  PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 

Fig.  138  represents  an  average  example  of  the  small  mortars.  It  is 
a  flat,  triangular  piece  of  sandstone,  somewhat  less  than  nine  inches 
along  each  side.  The  upper  surface  has  been  worn  away  until  an  oval 
depression  has  been  formed  about  one  inch  deep  at  the  centre.  As 
very  many  of  these  mortars  are  even  of  less  capacity  than  the  speci- 


men  here  figured,  it  is  evident  that  but  little  grain  could  be  ground  at 
a  time,  probably  not  more  than  was  needed  for  immediate  use.  Why, 
as  a  rule,  these  mortars  should  be  so  much  smaller  than  the  Mexican 
metates,  which  they  closely  resemble,  is  something  of  a  mystery.  The 


MORTARS   AND    PESTLES. 


advancement  of  the  Indians  of  the  Atlantic  coast,  in  the  culinary  arts, 
was  as  great  as  that  of  their  more  southern  neighbors. 

From  the  character  of  the  wearing  and  scratches  in  the  basin  of 
fig.  138,  it  is  evident  that  the  "upper  mill-stones"  used  with  these 
shallow  mortars,  were  the  flat,  oval  pebbles,  with  one  surface  artificially 
worn,  which  are  even  more  abundant  than  the  mortars  themselves. 
Fig.  139  represents  one  of  these  "upper  millstones."  It  is  an  ordi 
nary  water  worn  pebble,  with  the  under  side  worn  very  smooth  by  long 
continued  friction  against  the  sides  and  bottom  of  the  basin  of  the 
mortar.  Fig.  139  was  found  as 
sociated  with  the  mortar,  fig.  138, 
and  as  it  fits  the  basin  quite  ac 
curately,  they  are  supposed  to  have 
been  used  together.  This  use 
necessarily  consisted  in  a  very 
limited  rubbing  motion,  in  the  di 
rection  of  the  long  axis  of  the 
diameter  of  the  basin.  With  the 
supposed  upper  stone,  fig.  139,  there 
could  not  have  been  play  enough 
to  give  the  combined  stones  much 
grinding  or  crushing  power. 

Fig.  140  represents  a  second  ex 
ample  of  these  shallow  mortars, 
which  possesses  many  points  of  in 
terest.  This  specimen  measures  fourteen  inches  in  length  by  ten  in 
width,  and  is  of  a  uniform  thickness  of  about  three  inches.  The 
under  surface  is  unchanged  in  any  way  from  its  natural  condition, 
and  the  margins  are  but  slightly  smoothed  or  worn.  The  upper 
surface,  on  the  contrary,  is  worn  or  intentionally  ground  down  to 
a  perfect  level,  and  in  the  middle  there  is  a  shallow  depression, 
perfectly  circular,  and  marked  by  a  series  of  well  defined  circular 
striae.  Mortars  of  this  character  are  quite  rare,  and  whether  used  in 
a  different  manner  from  the  more  common  ones,  such  as  fig.  138,  is 


FIG.  139.  —  New  Jersey. 


154  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

not  known;  but  it  is  evident  that  the  method  of  grinding  on  this 
specimen  was  very  different  from  that  employed  in  the  preceding  ex 
ample.  There  it  was  evidently  a  rubbing  motion,  here  a  revolving  one, 
and  even  the  steady  revolution  of  the  end  of  a  cylindrical  pestle  would 
not,  unless  guided  with  great  accuracy,  make  such  a  regularly  circular 
depression.  The  artificially  smoothed  surface  about  the  basin  in  this 
specimen  is  a  feature  of  much  interest.  Such  mortars  are  not  usually 
altered  in  any  may.  Among  nearly  a  thousand  of  these  objects  found 
in  the  southern  counties  of  New  Jersey,  but  three  were  at  all  changed 
from  their  natural  condition  of  subangular  bowlders,  except  in  the 
wearing  away  that  had  resulted  in  a  basin-like  depression. 


FIG.  140.  —  New  Jersey.    \. 

Shallow  stone  mortars,  like  the  above,  are  common  in  the  southern 
states.  Col.  C.  C.  Jones,  jr.,39  mentions,  that  "  from  a  single  relic-bed 
on  the  right  bank  of  the  Savannah  river,  a  few  miles  above  Augusta, 
I  obtained,  at  one  time,  thirteen  stone  mortars  made  of  flat  bowlders 
taken  from  the  bed  of  the  stream  and  hollowed  out  on  both  sides  to 
the  depth  of  two  or  three  inches.  The  average  diameter  of  these 
shallow  basin-like  excavations  was  rather  more  than  nine  inches.  No 
labor  had  been  expended  in  shaping  these  stones.  The  natives  took 
them  as  they  found  them,  and  simply  formed  the  cavities.  Placed 
upon  the  ground  or  held  in  the  lap,  with  the  assistance  of  the  ordinary 

89  Jones.     Antiquities  of  the  Southern  Indians,  p.  312.     New  York,  1873. 


MORTARS   AND    PESTLES.  155 

dish-shaped  crushing  stones — large  numbers  of  which  were  seen  in 
the  vicinity — the  green  corn  could  have  been  mashed,  the  parched 
corn  pounded,  or  the  husks  beaten  from  the  ripe  grains." 

Stone  mortars,  with  a  basin  of  such  depth  as  required  a  long,  cylin 
drical  pestle,  are  of  rare  occurrence  along  the  northern  Atlantic  sea 
board.  A  single  example  has  occasionally  been  found  and  referred  to 
in  local  journals,  but  few  appear  to  have  been  secured  by  the  larger 
museums.  Certainly,  none  of  the  character  of  the  larger  mortars, 
found  in  southern  California,  are  ever  met  with  east  of  the  Mississippi 
river.  In  the  southern  states  stone  mortars  of  excellent  workmanship 
have  occasionally  been  found.  Col.  C.  C.  Jones,  jr.,40  describes  one 
from  Liberty  Co.,  Georgia,  as  "made  of  yellow,  ferruginous  quartz 
with  a  flat  bottom  and  circular  walls  gradually  expanding  as  they  rose  ; 
its  general  shape  was  that  of  an  inverted,  truncated  cone.  Entirely 
artificial,  the  exterior  was  well  polished.  About  ten  inches  high,  eight 
inches  in  diameter  at  the  top  and  seven  inches  at  the  bottom,  the 
interior  had  been  excavated  to  the  depth  of  nearly  eight  inches. 
At  the  top  the  walls  were  about  three-quarters  of  an  inch  thick  and 
increased  in  thickness  as  they  descended."  Mortars  of  this  size  are 
not  known  to  occur  along  the  northern  Atlantic  coast,  though  there 
have  been  found  smaller  examples  of  softer  material,  moderately  accu 
rate  in  outline  and  of  careful  finish,  thus  showing  that  the  absence  of 
the  larger  kinds  was  not  due  to  any  lack  of  capability  on  the  part  of 
the  northern  Indians. 

Pestles,  or  the  long  cylindrical  stone  implements  used  in  connection 
with  the  deeper  mortars,  particularly  with  the  large  wooden  ones,  are 
of  very  common  occurrence  throughout  the  entire  area  of  the  New 
England  and  middle  states.  Kalm  (Travels  in  North  America)  speak 
ing  of  the  Delaware  Indians,  says  that  "they  had  stone  pestles,  about 
a  foot  long,  and  y  as  thick  as  a  man's  arm.  They  consist  chiefly  of  a 
black  sort  of  a  stone,  and  were  formerly  employed,  by  the  Indians, 
for  pounding  maize,  which  has,  since  time  immemorial,  been  their 

40  Jones,  /.  c.,  p.  312. 


156  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

chief  and  almost  their  only  corn.  *  *  *  *  They  formerly  pounded 
all  their  corn  or  maize  in  hollow  trees,  with  the  above  mentioned  pes 
tles,  made  of  stone.  Many  Indians  had  only  wooden  pestles."  As  a 
class  of  implements,  while  very  distinct  from  all  others,  they  vary  much 
within  themselves.  Some  are  as  carefully  finished  and  as  highly  pol 
ished  as  the  celts,  while  others  are  merely  water-worn  pebbles  and  can 
only  be  recognized  as  relics  of  the  Indians  by  the  battered  ends,  or 
other  scarcely  discernible  marks  of  use.  The  majority  of  pestles  were 
not  made,  but  were  chosen  from  the  pebbles  of  the  river.  Such  as 
were  naturally  cylindrical  in  shape  were  taken,  and  occasionally  some 
slight  modifications  were  made  in  the  shape.  The  longest  were,  of 
course,  made  from  long  slabs  of  stone,  and  have  their  entire  surfaces 
worked  by  pecking.  This  process  is  best  exhibited  in  the  grooved 
stone  axes.  What  may  be  considered  as  the  maximum  length  of  pes 
tles  is  difficult  to  determine,  but  those  of  a  greater  length  than  fifteen 
inches  are  not  common. 

Of  a  series  of  ninety-two  pestles  found  in  New  Jersey,  twenty-eight 
are  plain  cylinders,  wholly  shaped  by  pecking.  Fifteen  have  a  portion 
of  their  surface  pecked,  to  bring  them  to  a  perfectly  cylindrical  shape. 
The  others  are  natural  pebbles  with  different  amounts  of  alteration  of 
the  natural  surfaces.  The  character  of  the  ends  of  these  pestles  varies 
considerably.  About  one-third  are  polished,  as  if  by  use,  while  the 
others  are  rough  and  in  some  instances  slightly  battered.  When  we 
come  to  the  smallest  of  these  cylindrical  pebbles,  and  especially  such 
as  have  distinctly  battered  ends,  it  is  necessary  to  exercise  care  that 
we  do  not  confound  pestles  and  possible  hammers.  Still,  if  used  as 
pestles,  these  smaller  examples  would  be  used  with  shallow  stone,  and 
not  deep  wooden  mortars,  and  so  would  be  more  or  less  liable  to  be 
come  broken  or  splintered  at  the  ends. 

Figs.  141  and  142  represent  excellent  average  examples  of  the  long, 
plain,  cylindrical  pestles,  common  everywhere.  Fig.  141  measures 
seventeen  and  one-half  inches  in  length  and  nearly  eight  inches  in 
circumference.  It  is  somewhat  polished  and  bevelled  at  either  end, 
which  would  indicate  that  it  was  used  in  the  deep  mortars  for  pounding, 


MORTARS   AND   PESTLES. 


157 


and  not  as  a  rolling  pin  upon  a  flat  slab  of  stone  ;  although  this  latter 
use  appears  to  have  been  true  of  some,  judging  simply  by  the  polish. 
The  marks  of  the  stone-hammer,  in  pecking  the  implement  to  its 
present  shape,  are  plainly  visible  even  to  the  very  ends  of  the  speci 
men.  This  pestle  weighs  seven 
pounds.  Fig.  142  measures  seven 
teen  inches  in  length,  and,  in  sec 
tion,  is  flattened  and  quadrangular. 
Although  smoother  than  the  pre 
ceding,  it  shows  the  marks  of  the 
hammer- stone  very  plainly  except 
at  the  ends,  which  are  smoothed, 
but  not  polished,  and  nearly  flat 
and  square.  Pestles  of  this  pattern 
are  not  common.  Schoolcraft41 
figures  one  that  is  similar. 

Fig.  143  represents  a  third  ex 
ample  of  the  ordinary  plain  pestles. 
It  is  made  of  sandstone,  nine  and 
one-half  inches  in  length,  and 
pecked  over  the  entire  surface 
except  the  extreme  ends  which 
are  smoothed,  but  not  polished. 
This  pestle,  which  is  a  good  repre 
sentative  example  of  the  common 
short  specimens,  was  found  on  a 
well  known  Indian  village  site  near 
Trenton,  New  Jersey,  where  hun 
dreds  have  been  collected. 

The  great  abundance  of  pestles,  in  many  localities  where  mortars  are 
seldom  found,  has  been  frequently  noted,  and  much  surprise  has  been 
expressed  that  such  should  ever  be  the  case.  It  is  readily  explained, 


FIG.  141.  —  New 
Jersey.     \. 


FIG.  142.  —New 
Jersey.     J. 


41  Schoolcraft.     History  and  Condition  of  Indian  Tribes,  pt.  i,  p.  86,  pi.  21,  fig.  i. 


158  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

I  think,  by  supposing  that  there  was  a  stationary  mortar  in  some  large 
rock  near  by,  to  which  the  women  of  the  tribe  resorted,  and  also,  by 
the  fact,  that  wooden  mortars  were  more  largely  in  use  than  has  been 


i 


FIG.  143.  — New  Jersey.    |.  FIG.  144.  — New  Jersey. 

supposed.     These,  of  course,  have  generally  long  since  decayed,  but 

some  two  or  three  are  known  to  have  been  found  and  are  still  preserved. 

Fig.  144  represents  a  form  of  pestle,  common  in  New  Jersey.     It  is 


MORTARS   AND   PESTLES. 


a  cylindrical  pebble  that  has  apparently  been  split  intentionally  for 
three-fourths  of  its  length.  The  unbroken  end  shows  some  traces  of 
contact  with  stone,  and  is  slightly  battered.  The  split  end  is  worn 
quite  smooth.  The  evidence  of  intentional  splitting  of  these  pestle- 
pebbles  is  seen  in  the  fact  that  so  many  have  been  found  of  this  form. 
Either  they  are  intention 
ally  split,  or  naturally 
fractured  pebbles  were 
habitually  chosen  for 
pestles. 

Figs.  145  and  146  rep 
resent  cylindrical  peb 
bles  of  small  size  from 
California,  which  have 
been  used  as  pestles. 
Fig.  145  has  been  slightly 
modified  by  pecking  on 
both  ends,  and  is  some 
what  smoother  at  the 
extremities  than  over  the 
body  of  the  implement. 
Fig.  146  shows  but  slight 
alteration  of  its  surface 
by  use,  but  the  fact  of 
its  having  been  found  in 
a  grave,  associated  with  a 
mortar  of  the  smallest 
size,  indicates  that  it  has  been  used  as  a  pestle.  Small  cylindrical  peb 
bles  like  these  are  of  common  occurrence  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard. 

Fig.  147  represents  a  magnificent  example  of  a  large  pestle,  remark 
able,  not  only  for  its  length,  which  is  twenty-eight  inches,  but  for  the 
artistically  carved  serpent's  ( ?)  head  at  one  end.  This  pestle  is  not 
cylindrical. 

Its  surface  is  formed  by  a  series  of  flat  planes  of  uniform  width, 


FIGS.  145  and  146— California. 


i6o 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


'  FIG.  147.  — Massachusetts. 


extending  the  entire  length  of 
the  implement.  Some  of  them 
are  quite  highly  polished,  while 
others  are  merely  smooth.  The 
circumference  of  the  plain,  or 
pounding  end,  is  nearly  five  and 
a  half  inches,  which  is  more 
than  an  inch  larger  than  the 
circumference  of  the  pestle  im 
mediately  below  the  carved 
head.  In  the  Archaeological 
Museum,  at  Cambridge,  Mass., 
are  two  others  of  these  orna 
mented  pestles,  one  of  which 
is  quite  small,  whilst  the  other 
is  not  so  long,  but  of  greater 
diameter  than  fig.  147.  Both 
have  more  mammal-like  heads 
carved  at  one  end,  and  are 
noticeable  from  the  fact  that, 
in  both,  the  ears  of  the  head 
are  prominently  carved,  while 
there  is  no  trace  of  an  eye. 

Professor  Perkins42  describes 
an  ornamented  pestle  over  two 
feet  in  length,  now  in  the  mu 
seum  of  the  University  of  Ver 
mont,  as  "  cylindrical,  as  usual, 
and  is  rounded  at  one  end, 
while  the  other  is  carved  to 
resemble  the  head  of  some 
animal — it  may  be  a  wolf." 

42  American  Naturalist,  vel.  v,  p.  12.   1871. 


MORTARS   AND   PESTLES.  l6l 

Mr.  Putnam,43  in  a  foot-note  referring  to  the  above,  adds  :  "  In  the 
collection  of  the  New  York  State  museum,  at  Albany,  there  is  a  long 
' pestle'  of  identical  pattern  and  having  the  same  rough  carving  as 
the  one  described  from  the  Burlington  museum.  These  are  the 
only  ones  that  have  come  under  my  observation  having  the  handle 
carved  to  represent  an  animal,  though  most  of  the  longer  implements 
of  this  character  have  a  knob  at  the  handle,  as  if  for  the  purpose  of 
suspension." 

A  pestle  with  a  carving  of  a  serpent's  head,  found  in  Onondaga 
Co.,  New  York,  is  of  much  interest,  as  the  implement  is  not  straight. 
The  carved  head  is  bent  to  a  greater  angle  than  in  fig.  147,  and  the 
plain  or  pounding  end  is  somewhat  curved  in  the  opposite  direction. 

This  crooked  specimen  would  not  answer  for  the  ordinary  uses  of  a 
pestle,  and  suggests  the  idea  that  it  may  have  been  a  club  or  baton. 
That  stone  clubs  were  ever  in  use  among  the  Iroquois  or  Algonkin 
tribes  is,  however,  merely  mentioned  as  possible. 

The  pestle,  here  described,  is  figured  in  a  MS.  on  the  Antiquities  of 
Onondaga  Co.,  New  York,  by  Rev.  W.  M.  Beauchamp  of  Baldwins- 
ville,  New  York,  in  the  library  of  the  Archaeological  museum,  at  Cam 
bridge,  Mass. 

A  pestle,  closely  resembling  that  represented  in  figure  147,  is  de 
scribed  by  the  same  writer,  as  "  twenty-seven  inches  long,  quite  slender 
and  uniformly  cylindrical,  its  average  diameter  being  about  two  inches. 
The  diameter  is  nearly  equal  throughout ;  one  end  is  somewhat  con 
tracted,  and  the  opposite  more  so,  to  form  a  neck  for  the  carved  head 
which  terminates  it.  This  carving,  though  not  elaborate,  yet  distinctly 
and  strongly  indicates  a  head,  somewhat  dog-like  and  somewhat  fish- 
like,  in  some  features  resembling  one  animal,  in  others  the  other." 
Judging  from  the  illustration  that  accompanies  this  description,  it  would 
seem  more  probable  that  a  serpent's  head  was  intended  to  be  repre 
sented,  as  the  head  upon  that  here  figured  is  certainly  intended  for 
that,  and  the  two  bear  a  marked  resemblance.  Professor  Perkins  also 


43  L.  c.,  vol.  xiii,  p.  739,  fig.  i,  of  pi.  2.     1879. 
11 


Z62  PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 

refers  to  two  stone  pestles  from  Vermont,  which  have  rude  carvings 
on  one  end.  Of  one  of  these  he  remarks,  "the  carved  end  represents, 
rather  rudely,  but  yet  plainly,  the  head  of  a  squirrel  or  some  similar 
animal."  Of  the  common  forms  of  this  implement,  as  found  in  Ver 
mont  (and  the  remarks  apply  equally  well  to  all  New  England) ,  Professor 
Perkins  says  they  are  of  "  all  varieties.  Some  are  fusiform,  used  evi 
dently  as  rollers,  since  both  ends  are  in  some  cases  polished  by  the 
friction  with  the  hands,  others  as  obviously  used  for  pounding,  as  the 
more  or  less  rectangular  form  precludes  the  possibility  of  rolling  them  ; 
one  of  these  is  three  inches  square  and  nearly  a  foot  and  a  half  long, 
flat  on  all  sides ;  other  specimens  are  flat  on  two  sides  and  rounded 
on  the  other  two  ;  others  are  club-shaped,  and  so  on." 

Long  pestles,  with  knobs  on  one  end,  judging  from  the  series  of 
these  implements  preserved  in  the  several  large  museums,  are  of  even 
rarer  occurrence  than  those  with  animal  heads  ;  but  very  few  are  found 
even  with  a  narrow  groove  near  one  end.  This  form,  which  is  so 
characteristic  of  the  long  pestles  found  in  California,  is  not  abundant 
anywhere  save  on  the  Pacific  coast.  Of  the  hundreds  of  pestles  from 
the  Atlantic  shores,  none  are  so  distinctly  grooved  and  collared,  as  those 
from  California.  Figs.  148  and  149  represent  specimens  of  these 
collared  pestles,  taken  from  graves  at  Dos  Pueblos,  southern  California. 
It  is  somewhat  strange  when  we  consider  the  labor  of  carving  an  ani 
mal's  head  on  one  of  these  pestles,  that  so  very  few  of  them  have  even 
a  groove  about  one  end,  that  they  might  the  more  easily  be  suspended  ; 
though  they  appear  very  generally  to  have  been  so  suspended.  "The 
Pennacooks,"  according  to  Schoolcraft,  "were  accustomed  to  suspend 
a  stone  pestle  from  the  limb  of  a  tree,  which  acted  as  a  spring  and 
saved  the  squaw  labour  in  lifting  the  pestle.  These  pestles  were 
usually  ornamented  with  a  human  head,  or  the  head  of  a  deer,  or 
some  other  animal,  sculptured  at  one  end."  While  the  conclusion, 
that  they  were  usually  sculptured,  was  an  unwarranted  inference  on  the 
part  of  Mr.  Schoolcraft,  the  few  carved  pestles  that  are  found  show 
that  such  was  sometimes  the  case.  The  absence  of  these  carvings  or 
of  a  groove  or  collar  on  certain  specimens  cannot,  however,  be  con- 


MORTARS   AND   PESTLES. 


I63 


sidered  as  evidence  that  they  were  not  also  suspended.     The  distinc 
tion  drawn  between  true  pestles,  so  called,  and  the  highly  polished, 

finely  finished  but  plain    speci 
mens,  which  have   been  called 

war-clubs,  as  has  been  already 

stated,  is,  in  all  probability,  not 

warranted. 

Fig.    150    represents  a   small 

pestle,  pounder  or  muller,  such 

as    is    common  in  western  and 

southern  localities,  but   of  rare 

occurrence    in    New    Jersey    or 

New  England.     This  specimen 

has   been    carefully   shaped    by 

pecking,  and  on  the  ends,  one 

of  which   is    perfectly   flat,    are 

shallow  cup-like  depressions. 
These  depressions  are  not  un 
common  in  the  short  mullers 
found  in  Ohio,  which  are  im 
plements  of  known  use,  and 
therefore  their  presence,  in  this 
instance,  is  not  an  indication  that 
fig.  150  is  not  a  pestle,  or  muller. 
The  purpose  of  the  groove  about 
the  middle  of  this  implement  is 
difficult  to  determine.  When 
such  narrow  grooves  are  near 
one  end,  as  in  the  California 
specimens,  it  is  evident  that  the 
pestles  so  marked,  when  in  use, 
were  suspended  from  the  limb 
of  a  tree ;  but  fig.  150  is  too  small  to  be  used  in  this  manner,  and  the 


FIGS.  148  and  149. —  Califo 


164 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


groove  being  in  the  middle  of  the  implement  would  prevent  it  from 
taking,  if  suspended,  other  than  a  horizontal  position. 

Fig.  1 5 1  represents  an  average  specimen  of  the  short  flaring  mullers, 

or  crushers  common  in  Ohio, 
but  comparatively  rare  in  New 
England  and  the  middle  states. 
In  a  series  of  about  ninety 
pestles,  there  are  but  three  of 
these  mullers.  While  not  pes 
tles  strictly  speaking,  yet  their 
use  is  so  similar  as  to  warrant 
their  being  classed  together. 

Fig.  151  is  made  of  a  very 
compact  granitic  rock,  and  is 
carefully  worked  over  its  entire 
surface.  The  crushing  end,  or 
base,  is  nearly  level  and  more 
worn  than  battered,  as  though 
the  implement  had  been  used 
with  a  rubbing,  rather  than  a 
pounding  motion.  The  two 
other  examples  of  typical  mul 
lers,  to  which  reference  has 
been  made,  are  of  much  ruder 
finish,  and  the  flaring  base  is 
less  pronounced  than  in  this 
instance. 

Among    the    many   shallow 
mortars    that    have    been    ex 
amined,   none   possessed   any 
FIG.  x5o.-New  jersey.  |.  peculiarity  which  would  make 

an  upper  stone,  like  fig.  151,  more  desirable  than  the  flat  oval  pebbles 
that  have  been  described,  fig.  139. 


MORTARS   AND   PESTLES.  165 

Besides  the  large  stone  mortars  and  pestles,  to  which  attention  has 
been  called,  there  are  occasionally  found  small  stone  cups  or  minia 
ture  mortars,  invariably,  I  believe,  made  by  utilizing  pebbles  having 
natural  hollows  on  one  side,  which  have  been  deepened  by  more 


FIG.  151.  —  New  Jersey,    y. 

or  less  pecking,  until  a  serviceable,  though  small  stone  vessel  was 
produced.  These  were  used  for  grinding  the  red  paint,  which,  in 
the  shape  of  coarsely  powdered  oxide  of  iron,  is  found  in  great 
abundance  in  the  geodes  that  lie  scattered  over  much  of  the  territory 


i66 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


of  New  Jersey.     In  these  little  mortars,  this  paint  is  readily  reducible 
to  an  impalpable  powder. 

Loskiel44  remarks  of  the   Indians,  "They  bestow  much  time  and 
labor  in  decorating  their  faces ;  laying  on  fresh  paint  every  day,  es 
pecially  if  they  go 
out  to  dance.    They 
suppose    that   it    is 
very  proper  for  brave 
men  to  paint,   and 
always   study  a 
change    of   fashion. 
Vermilion    is    their 
favorite   color,   with 
._    which    they    fre- 
^    quently  paint   their 
^    whole  head.     Here 
«     and  there  black 
I.     streaks   are  intro- 

"     duced,  or  they  paint 

u 

=     one-half  of  their  face 

and  head  black  and 
the  other  red." 

Fig.  152  repre 
sents  a  medium- 
sized  paint-cup, 
made  of  a  water- 
worn  pebble.  Three 
and  three-fourths 
inches  long  by  two 
and  one-quarter  inches  wide,  this  specimen  has  sides  and  ends  of  a  uni 
form  width  of  half  an  inch,  giving  thereby  a  large  cup-shaped  depression 
for  the  total  dimensions  of  the  specimen.  It  may  be  objected  that 


44  Mission  to  North  American  Indians,  p.  49.     London,  1794- 


MORTARS   AND    PESTLES. 


I67 


the  size  of  fig.  152  is  too  small  for  the  supposed  use.  Undoubtedly 
many  paint-mortars  were  larger,  but  this  specimen  is  not  as  small  as 
some  we  have  found  ;  and,  in  favor  of  the  theory  that  it  was  so  used, 
is  the  fact  that  it  was  found  in  a  grave,  with  a  series  of  arrowpoints, 
a  celt,  a  knife,  and  some  fragments  of  pottery.  The  locality  and  the 
evidently  artificial  character  of  the  cup-shaped  depression  prove  beyond 
a  doubt  that  it  is  an  Indian  relic  ;  and  that  its  use  was  for  paint-mixing 
seems  more  probable  than  any  other  that  can  be  suggested.  Associ 
ated  with  this  delicate  paint-cup  was  the  little  club-shaped  pestle, 
drawn  as  resting  in  the  cup.  It  is  a  pretty  pebble,  three  inches  in 


FIG.  153.  —  California,     j. 

length,  slender  and  oval  at  one  end,  and  flat,  oval,  and  double  the 
width  at  the  opposite  end.  This  pestle  has  probably  been  worn  away 
considerably  in  its  use  with  the  accompanying  cup.  The  width  of  the 
club-like  end,  and  that  of  the  slender  stem,  seem  to  agree  perfectly  with 
the  width  and  depth  of  the  cup's  hollow,  and  the  slender  portion  with 
the  points  of  contact  of  the  rim  of  the  cup  and  the  handle  of  the 
paint-crusher. 

These  small  mortars,  or  paint-cups,  fig.  152,  are  not  confined  to  the 
Atlantic  coast,  but  are  of  even  more  frequent  occurrence  on  the  Pacific 
coast.  Fig.  153  represents  one  of  these  small  stone  cups  made  of 
serpentine,  and  differs  from  the  eastern  specimens  only  in  being  made 


i68 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


from  a  mass  of  this  stone,  and  is  therefore  wholly  artificial ;  while  very 
seldom,  if  ever,  are  they  found  of  this  character  in  New  England  or 
the  middle  states. 

Fig.  154  represents  a  very  small  paint-cup  made  from  a  water- worn 

pebble,  which  has  received  its  present  hollow,  or  cup-shaped  depression, 

wholly  by  pecking,  after  the  manner  of  working  the  deep  grooves  on 

.  the  common  stone  axe.     This  paint-cup  is  almost  circular  in  shape, 

being  a  little  flattened  on  one  side.    It  is  one  and  five-eighths  inches  in 

diameter,  and  has  but  a  depth  of 
three-eighths  of  an  inch  at  the 
centre,  or  deepest  part  of  the  de 
pression.  There  are  still  marks 
of  the  stone  hammer  in  this  hol 
low,  which,  however,  feels  per 
fectly  smooth  to  the  touch,  and 
has  the  same  color  and  amount 
of  polish  as  the  exterior  surfaces 
of  the  specimen.  This  specimen,  like  the  preceding,  was  found  in 
the  grave  of  a  child,  with  a  number  of  greatly  decayed  bone  beads, 
and  a  highly  polished  black  stone,  with  a  number  of  small  holes 
of  natural  origin,  through  it. 

As  in  the  preceding  example  of  paint-cups,  so  in  this  instance,  a 
long,  slender  pebble,  of  considerable  polish,  more  worn  at  one  end 
than  at  the  other,  was  found  with  the  cup.  The  two  certainly  seem 
fitted  for  use  with  each  other. 


FIG.  154.  —  New  Jersey. 


CHAPTER     XI. 


POTTERY. 


OF  all  the  traces  of  man's  handiwork  none  are  so  unmistakable,  and 
so  imperishable,  as  fragments  of  pottery.  Nature  produces  nothing  with 
which  it  can  be  confounded.  However  minute  the  scattered  sherds, 
they  cannot  escape  recognition,  and  wherever  found  we  can  confidently 
point  to  them  as  evidences  of  man's  former  presence. 

While  primitive  pottery,  in  a  fragmentary  condition,  can  be  obtained 
by  careful  search  in  almost  every  locality,  the  frequency  of  its  occur 
rence  necessarily  varies.  On  every  former  village  site,  it  naturally 
occurs  in  greatest  abundance  ;  but  it  is  only  when  we  chance  upon  a 
burial  place,  that  has  escaped  disturbance,  that  a  perfect  vessel  can  be 
obtained. 

In  the  upper  valley  of  the  Delaware,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  beautiful 
Water  Gap,  "fragments  of  earthen-made  articles  are  found  in  almost 
every  field  near  the  river."45  Here  "the  material  was  prepared  by 
pounding  certain  kinds  of  shells  and  mixing  with  suitable  moistened 
clay  •  having  dried  this  compound  in  the  shade,  it  was  then  burned  in 
the  oven  or  kiln,  made  for  the  purpose,  and  became  hard,  and  would 
stand  exposure  to  the  fire. 

"The  earthen  pots  are  made  of  various  sizes,  holding  from  a  pint 
to  several  gallons.  The  larger  ones  were  used,  among  other  purposes, 
for  boiling  the  sap  for  maple  sugar.  Of  the  same  material  were  made 
pitchers,  vases,  bowls,  plates,  etc. 

"Unbroken  articles  of  earthenware  are  now  rarely  met  with,  but 

«  Brodhead.     Delaware  Water  Gap:  Its  Scenery  and  History,  p.  107,  2d  ed.     Philadelphia,  1870. 

(169) 


170  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

fragments,  sometimes  in  large  pieces,  are  found  in  quantities,  some  of 
these  showing  a  degree  of  taste  and  skill  in  ornamentation." 

The  above  is  true  of  all  parts  of  the  state,  and  a  comparison  of  the 
pottery  found  about  the  Water  Gap,  which  was  a  place  of  great  im 
portance  to  the  Indians,  with  that  of  other  localities,  shows  only  such 
differences  as  arise  from  the  quality  of  the  clay  used,  or  the  propor 
tions  of  clay  and  shell  adopted  by  the  different  potters.  About 
Trenton,  New  Jersey,  which  was  also  the  site  of  an  extensive  and 
important  Indian  town,  the  pottery  is  of  different  colors,  and  of  both 
mixed  and  unmixed  clay.  Here  the  raw  materials  are  found  in  great 
abundance,  and  the  character  of  the  ware  seems  largely  to  have  been 
determined  by  the  character  of  the  beds,  from  which  the  potter  took 
his  clay.  A  large  portion  of  the  pottery  made  by  the  Indians,  how 
ever,  was  not  made  from  pure  clay,  just  as  it  came  from  the  bed,  but 
the  clay- earths  that  overlie  the  others  were  utilized  and  made  available 
by  mixing  with  them  quartz  granules  and  pounded  shell.  Much  of 
the  pure  clay,  which  in  many  places  was  accessible,  would  need  far 
more  manipulation  than  the  Indian  potters  would  care  to  give  it,  and 
as  the  mixture  of  clay  and  shell  was  simpler  and  would  meet  all  their 
requirements,  it  was,  very  naturally,  most  frequently  used.  They 
nevertheless  possessed  the  knowledge  of  successfully  working  in  pure 
clay,  as  sherds  are  found  so  made,  and  their  well-formed  clay  smoking 
pipes  are  a  further  proof  of  the  fact. 

In  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  seacoast,  pottery  is  found  as  fre 
quently  as  along  the  river  valleys. 

In  his  report  on  the  Artificial  Shell-Deposits  in  New  Jersey,  Dr. 
Chas.  Rau  46  mentions  as  evidence  of  the  occupancy  of  such  of  these 
shellheaps,  as  were  examined  by  him  near  Keyport,  New  Jersey,  the 
occurrence  of  "numerous  fragments  of  pottery,"  which  he  subse 
quently  describes  as  consisting  "of  a  dark  clay,  either  mixed  with 
coarse  sand,  or  pure,  for  the  most  part  rather  slightly  burned ;  some 
of  the  sherds  still  bear  the  ornamental  lines  and  notches  cut  in  the 

*6  Rau.     Smithson.  Annual  Report,  1864,  p.  371. 


POTTERY.  iyi 

surface  of  the  vessels.  The  mixing  of  the  clay  with  pounded  shells 
does  not  seem  to  have  been  practised  by  the  Indians  of  this  region." 

Throughout  the  New  England  states,  the  pottery  presents  no  essen 
tial  difference  from  that  found  in  New  Jersey.  Like  that  found  in  the 
middle  states,  the  material  of  which  it  is  made,  and  the  arrangement 
of  the  lines,  dots  and  cord-marks  vary  indefinitely,  but,  as  yet,  no  vessel 
has  been  obtained  that  is  in  any  way  peculiar  either  in  form  or  orna 
mentation.  Professor  Perkins  47  records  of  Vermont,  that  "specimens 
of  earthenware  occur  all  over  the  state,  chiefly  in  the  form  of  fragments. 
*  *  *  All  of  the  earthenware  was  ornamented  somewhat,  some  but  little, 
some  more,  the  decoration  consisting  of  impressed  figures  of  a  great  va 
riety  of  form.  *  *  *  No  decoration  by  the  application  of  paint  or  any 
coloring  material  occurs.  *  *  *  The  material  of  which  the  jars  was 
made  is  essentially  like  that  found  elsewhere."  Of  pottery,  as  found 
in  the  New  England  shell-heaps,  Professor  Wyman  has  remarked,  that 
"it  is  poorly  represented,  only  small  fragments  having  been  found. 
Like  those  from  other  parts  of  the  United  States,  the  pots  were  made 
of  clay,  with  or  without  the  admixture  of  pounded  shells,  and  were 
imperfectly  burned  so  that  the  walls  are  both  friable  and  porous.  The 
ornamentation,  when  it  exists,  is  of  the  rudest  kind,  consisting  of  in 
dentations  or  tracings  with  a  single  point,  or,  as  in  some  cases,  with  a 
series  of  points  on  one  and  the  same  instrument ;"  and  in  some 
cases,  "the  lines  in  the  surface  had  been  formed  by  impressing  an 
evenly  twisted  cord  into  the  soft  clay,  the  cord  being  laid  on  in  various 
positions."48 

Two  examples  of  medium  sized  vessels,  each  showing  traces  of 
handle-like  projections,  which,  though  broken,  appear  to  have  been 
the  animal-like  figures  that  characterize  so  great  an  amount  of  the 
well-known  Missouri  pottery,  were  found  near  Trenton,  New  Jersey, 
under  such  circumstances  as  indicated  that  they  had  been  in  use,  and 
were  buried  there  by  the  Indians  of  that  region.  The  clay  is  appar- 


47  Perkins.     L.  c.,  vol.  xii,  p.  737. 

48  Wyman.     American  Naturalist,  vol.  i,  p.  581. 


172  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

ently  the  same,  and  the  general  style  of  workmanship  is  so  identical 
with  the  pottery  found  in  the  mounds  of  southeastern  Missouri,  and  in 
the  stone  graves  of  the  Cumberland  valley,  that  there  can  be  but  little 
doubt  that  these  vessels  were  brought  from  some  far  western  locality. 
Suggestive  as  is  this  fact,  it  becomes  more  so,  when  it  is  remembered 
that  this  same  river  valley  was  at  one  time  occupied  by  not  only  the 
resident  Lenapes,  but  also  by  bands  of  the  restless  Shawnees.  The 
latter  dwelt  in  large  numbers  near  where  Philadelphia  now  stands ; 
they  had  also  a  considerable  village  at  the  Delaware  Water  Gap,  and 
are  known  to  have  occupied  at  one  time  the  valley  of  the  Cumberland. 
In  fact,  that  stream  was  originally  known  as  the  river  of  the  Chaoua- 
nons.  Inasmuch  as,  mingled  with  the  ordinary  objects  of  stone, 
made  by  the  resident  Delawares,  are  found  many  that  appear  to  be  out 
of  place,  and  characteristic  of  the  southern  and  western  Indians,  it 
does  not  seem  strange  to  find  specimens  of  earthenware  also,  and 
yet  the  cases  are  very  different.  The  spearpoints  and  ornaments  are 
referable  to  southern  Indians,  and  such  as  are  of  southern  patterns  or 
types  may  have  been  brought  by  the  southern  Shawnees  ;  but  the  two 
black  pots,  in  question,  are  not  like  the  surface-found  vessels  of  the 
later  Indians,  but  are  identical  with  those  from  the  mounds.  Can  it 
be  that  the  Shawnees  were  the  ancient  potters  that  fashioned  that  won 
derful  ware  ?  But,  if  so,  why  did  they  not  continue  its  manufacture 
in  New  Jersey  ?  Here  are  found  no  animal-shaped  vessels  ;  and  the 
clay  images  of  the  Delawares  and  the  Iroquois  are  of  a  very  different 
character  of  workmanship,  and,  besides,  they  were  not  designed  as 
ornaments  for  vessels. 

Fig.  155  represents  the  largest  example  of  a  clay  pot,  in  the  com 
bined  collections  of  the  Museums  of  Cambridge  and  Salem,  Mass. 
One,  larger,  from  Vermont,  will  be  subsequently  referred  to.  This  sym 
metrical  and  well-made  vessel  is  of  the  shape  and  size  that  appears  to 
have  been  most  generally  in  use,  judging  from  the  numberless  fragments 
that  are  found. 

In  fig.  155  the  ornamentation  is  of  modest  character,  and,  as 
is  almost  always  the  case,  it  is  almost  entirely  confined  to  the 


POTTERY.  173 

neck  and  rim.  In  all  vessels  of  this  pattern,  the  lower  portion  is 
perfectly  plain. 

This  specimen,  which  is  probably  of  Iroquois  or  Huron  manufacture, 
was  found  near  Wiarton,  County  of  Bruce,  Ontario,  "under  a  cliff  of 
limestone  formation,  upwards  of  one  hundred  feet  high,  and  within  a 
few  feet  of  Colpay's  bay." 

Fig,  156  represents  a  beautiful,  but  fragmentary  little  vessel  found 
by  the  late  Prof.  Jeffries  Wyman,  at  Hingham,  Mass.  It  is  very  thin, 


FIG.  155.  —  Ontario,    -j. 

and  the  clay  of  which  it  is  made  is  nearly  pure.  The  ornamentation 
is  much  more  elaborate  than  that  upon  the  preceding  specimen.  A 
noticeable  feature  of  this  pot  is  the  almost  pointed  bottom.  Larger 
vessels  of  the  same  pattern,  used  for  cooking  and  holding  food,  were 
suspended  by  a  cord  passed  around  the  narrowed  portion  or  neck  of 
the  vessel.  Fig.  156  is  thin  and  small,  and  required  very  careful 
handling  when  in  use.  There  is  a  marked  difference  between  the 


174 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


ornamentation  of  this  tastefully  designed  specimen  and  that  of  the 
following  small  vessel  found  in  New  Jersey,  though  many  fragments 
of  ornamented  pottery  are  found. 

Fig.  157  represents  a  nearly  perfect  specimen  of  a  clay  vessel  of 


FIG.  156.  —  Massachusetts,    -f. 

small  size,  found  near  Trenton,  New  Jersey.  Vessels  of  this  kind  ap 
pear  to  have  been  habitually  placed  in  the  graves  of  the  Delaware 
Indians,  but  so  imperfectly  were  most  of  them  made,  that,  unless  han 
dled  with  the  utmost  care,  they  crumble  on  being  removed  from  the 
earth. 


POTTERY. 


175 


This  little  vessel  measures  three  and  three-fourths  inches  in  height, 
and  is  of  the  same  width  at  the  mouth,  including  the  flaring  of  the  rim. 
The  clay  used  has  a  very  slight  admixture  of  shell,  and  is  identical 
with  much  of  the  pottery  found  in  fragments  upon  the  surface  of 
the  ground.  The  ornamentation  is  of  the  most  crude  and  meaning 
less  character. 

When  found,  this  pot  or  vase  was  filled  with  a  black  powder,  and 
covered  with  a  square  plate  of  mica,  nearly  half  an  inch  in  thickness. 
Mica  is  of  common 
occurrence  in  Indian 
graves  in  New  Jersey, 
and  has  occasionally 
been  found  in  Indian 
graves  in  New  Eng 
land.  Mr.  F.  W.  Put 
nam49  has  described, 
as  among  the  con 
tents  of  Indian  graves 
discovered  in  Bev 
erly,  Mass.,  several 
large  plates  of  mica, 
which  he  states  are 
not  usually  met  with 
in  this  connection. 

Fig.  158  represents  a  very  handsome  vessel  of  moderate  size,  "found 
in  the  town  of  Colchester,  Vermont,  in  1825,  and  is  now  preserved 
in  the  museum  of  the  University  of  Vermont.  It  was  found  some 
distance  below  the  surface  and  covered  by  a  stone.  *  *  *  *  The 
jar  is  made  of  a  kind  of  clay  made  very  coarse  by  small  bits  of 
mica,  quartz  and  felspar,  and  obtained,  it  may  be,  by  pulverizing 
granite."50  The  amount  of  ornamentation,  which  while  simply  com- 


FIG.  157. — New  Jersey.     (. 


49  Putnam.     Bulletin  of  the  Essex  Institute,  vol.  iii,  p.  123.     Salem,  Mass.,  1871. 

50  Perkins.     L.  c.,  vol.  v,  p.  15,  figs,  i  and  2. 


i76 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 


binations  of  lines  and  dots  is  really  of  tasteful  design,  is  quite  un 
usual  ;  but  the  square  top  occurs  quite  frequently  in  the  pottery  of 
the  entire  Atlantic  coast. 

Fig.  159  represents  a  larger  vessel  found  at  Bolton,  Vermont,  many 
years  ago.     This  specimen  closely  resembles  the  specimen  figured  on 


FIG.  158.  —  Vermont. 

page  173,  and  is  of  about  the  same  size.  This  specimen  "is  not  orna 
mented  except  by  a  ring  about  the  neck,"  about  which  are  various 
oblique  and  notch-like  incised  lines.  The  depth  and  greatest  diameter 
of  this  specimen  are  alike,  nine  and  a  half  inches,  and  at  the  mouth, 
is  seven  and  one-half  inches  in  width.  The 
capacity  of  this  vessel  is  three  gallons. 

It  is  probable  to  vessels  of  this  size,  more 
particularly,  that  Kalm  refers  (Travels  in 
North  America),  when  he  says  "the  old 
boilers  or  kettles  of  the  Indians  were  either 
made  of  clay,  or  of  different  kinds  of  potstone 
{Lapis  ollaris}.  The  former  consisted  of  a 
dark  clay,  mixed  with  grains  of  white  sand  or 
quartz,  and  burnt  in  the  fire.  Many  of  these 

kettles  have  two  holes  in  the  upper  margin,  on  each  side  one, 
through  which  the  Indians  put  a  stick,  and  held  the  kettle  over  the 
fire,  as  'long  as  it  was  to  boil.  Most  of  the  kettles  have  no  feet.  It  is 
remarkable  that  no  pots  of  this  kind  have  been  found  glazed,  either 


FIG.  159.  —  Vermont. 


POITERY.  177 

on  the  outside  or  the  inside.  A  few  of  the  oldest  Swedes  could  yet 
remember  seeing  the  Indians  boil  their  meat  in  these  pots.  They  are 
very  thin,  and  of  different  sizes." 

While  many  fragments  of  pottery  have  been  found,  which  had  one 
or  more  perforations,  they  were  not  generally  of  a  character  to  suggest 
that  the  object  of  the  perforation  was  for  suspending  the  vessel ;  but 
that  fragments  of  pots  had  been  utilized  as  trinkets,  and  drilled  for 
suspension  as  rude  ornaments,  associated  with  other  objects,  or  to  be 
attached  simply  to  the  dress.  This  is  further  indicated  by  the  fact, 
that  many  of  these  perforated  pottery  fragments  have  had  the  edges 
smoothed,  and  the  more  prominent  angles  worn  or  ground  off. 

Kalm  further  suggests  indirectly,  that  some  of  the  clay  vessels,  used 
by  the  New  Jersey  Indians,  had  feet.  No  specimens,  I  believe,  have 
ever  been  found  along  the  northern  Atlantic  coast,  which  had  any  foot- 
like  projections,  or  were  indeed  sufficiently  flat  upon  the  bottom,  to 
retain,  unaided,  an  upright  position.  May  not  this  careful  observer 
have  seen  examples  of  the  western  pottery  —  possibly  of  Shawnee 
origin  —  such  as  have  been  found  in  New  Jersey,  among  the  then  but 
recently  discarded  objects  of  Indian  origin?  Much  of  the  so-called 
Missouri  or  black  pottery,  as  we  know,  is  provided  with  "feet,"  or 
foot-like  knobs. 

As  further  showing  the  character  of  the  ornamentation  common  to 
the  pottery  of  our  Atlantic  coast  Indians,  a  series  of  fragments  exhibit 
ing  various  designs  and  combinations  are  also  given.  These  speci 
mens,  however,  must  not  be  looked  upon  as  in  any  way  typical,  for 
the  combinations,  possible,  of  the  lines,  dots  and  corn-cob  marks  are 
nearly  countless,  and  it  is  probable  that  no  two  vessels  were  made  ex 
actly  alike.  Of  the  thousands  of  sherds  often  found  in  a  few  acres  of 
newly  ploughed  ground  no  two  can,  by  their  ornamentation,  be  shown 
to  have  belonged  to  the  same  vessel. 

While  this  rude  pottery  has  been,  by  some,  carefully  classified  as 

cord-marked,  incised,  stamped,  thumb-nailed,  and  otherwise,  it  is  here 

considered  collectively,  as  these  various  methods  of  ornamentations 

are  so  frequently  combined,  that  it  is   difficult   to    determine  which 

12 


i78 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


method  has  the  best  claim  to  the  specimen.  Even  if  these  processes 
were  singly  used,  there  does  not  seem  to  be  sufficient  difference  in  their 
results,  to  render  careful  classification  necessary.  Surely  the  differ 
ence  resulting  from  the  fact  that  the  squaw,  when  moulding  a  pot, 
scratched  it  with  her  thumb-nail,  rather  than  with  a  stick,  is  of  little 


FIG.  160.  —  Pennsylvania.     j« 

scientific  interest,  especially  when  the  two  methods  were  equally  used 
by  the  same  potter. 

Fig.  1 60  represents  a  large  fragment  of  a  vessel,  found  on  Shawnee 
island  above  the  Delaware  Water  Gap,  Penn.  The  lines  are  of  very 
regular  width,  equidistant,  and  give  a  very  pleasing  effect,  as  they 
are  here  combined.  The  common  practice  of  terminating  the  orna 
mentation  by  a  few  short  perpendicular  lines  is  not  without  merit,  as 
it  is  desirable  to  prevent  the  abrupt  junction  of  the  plain  and  orna- 


POTTERY. 


179 


mented  portions ;  but  whether  this  was  the  intention  of  the  ancient 
potter  is  questionable. 

Figs.  1 6 1  to  1 64,  inclusive,  represent  combinations  of  straight  lines 
that  are  of  common 
occurrence.  These 
lines  are  in  many 
cases  carefully  in 
cised,  and  are  of  uni 
form  width  and  depth, 
but  the  accuracy  of 
all  such  incised  lines 
depends  largely  upon 
the  composition  used 
in  lieu  of  pure  clay. 
When  very  much 
mixed  with  sand  and 
shell,  the  lines,  dots 
and  other  devices,  are 
not  clearly  denned,  neither  are  they  of  regular  or  uniform  measure 
ment. 

Fig.  164  represents  an  angular  fragment  of  a  thick  and  very  small 


FIG.  161.  — New  Jersey. 


FIG.  162.  —  New  Jersey, 


FIG.  163.  —  New  Jersey. 


vessel.  The  oblique  lines  in  this  example  are  pointed,  as  though  made 
by  the  point  of  a  sharp  bone  needle.  The  parallel  lines  suggest  a  highly 
conventionalized  human  face.  This  is  the  more  probable,  as  the  frag- 


i8o 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 


ment  may  be  from  one  of  their  large  clay  smoking  pipes,  which  were 
often  ornamented  with  various  devices. 

Figs.  165  and  166  represent  the  outer  and  inner  sides  of  a  fragment 


FIG.  164.  —  New  Jersey, 


FIG.  165.  — New  Jersey. 


of  clay  pot.  The  lines  here  are  made  of  a  series  of  square  impres 
sions  which,  being  separated  by  a  narrow  septum,  give  a  pleasing 
impression  to  the  eye.  This  series  of  lines  may  have  been  made  by 

a  bone  implement  such  as 
described  by  Professor 
Wyman,  in  his  notice  of 
New  England  Shellheaps, 
in  Vol.  I,  of  the  American 
Naturalist,  as  having  "a 
series  of  points  on  one 
and  the  same  instrument." 
There  does  not  seem  to  be 
any  greater  abundance  of 
this  pattern  of  linear  dec 
oration,  than  of  the  preceding. 

Fig.  167  represents  a  fragment  with  a  still  simpler  combination  of 
lines.  In  this  instance  it  is  made  up  of  very  irregular  and  somewhat 
indistinct  scratches.  This  is  the  rudest  attempt  at  ornamentation  that 
we  find,  and  is  in  broad  contrast  to  the  fragment,  fig.  168,  where  the 


FIG.  166. —  New  Jersey, 


POTTERY. 


181 


lines  consist  of  delicate  impressions  made  by  the  hollow  stem  of  the 
bulrush.  The  bottom  of  each  impress  has  a  nipple-like  protuberance, 
which  is  very  distinctly  seen.  Frag 
ments  thus  marked  are  not  of  common 
occurrence,  either  in  combination  with 
other  markings  or  alone. 

Figs.  169  and  170  represent  two  ex 
amples  of  linear  decoration,  where  the 
lines  consist  of  squares  impressed  in 
the  soft  clay  by  a  wooden  or  bone  im 
plement.  The  clay  has  not  been  actu- 


FIG.  167.  — New  Jersey. 


ally  removed  from  these  little  pits,  but  pushed  aside  and  subsequently 
smoothed  off  when  the  clay  was  soft.  Such  at  least  is  the  appearance 
of  the  fragments  I  have  examined.  The  little  fragment,  fig.  171, 


FlG.  168.  —  New  Jersey. 


FIG.  169.  —  New  Jersey. 


which  is  the  angular  corner  of  an  ornamented  vessel,  probably  similar 
to  the  Vermont  specimen,  fig.  158,  has  these  same  square  pits  or 
depressions  in  rows,  and  is  interesting  as  showing 
in  how  delicate  a  manner  this  style  was  occasionally 
executed. 

The  character  of  ornamentation,  so  well  shown  in 
figs.  169  and  170,  is  by  no  means  confined  to  the 
FIG.  170.— New  jer-   Atlantic  coast  of  America.     Figs.  172  and  173  rep- 

sey.     -\ . 

resent  sherds  similarly  marked  from  Wisconsin,  and 
fig.  1 74  a  third  example  from  a  shellheap  in  Massachusetts ;  which, 


182 


PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 


however,  is  more  nearly  allied  to  fig.  167  than  to  the  regularly  marked 

example,  fig.  169. 

Fig.  175  represents  a  fragment  of  pottery,  which  is  of  interest  as 
showing  a  style  of  decoration  that  is  rarely  seen  in 
New  Jersey,  and  is  never  found  on  any  of  the  New 


FIG.  171. — New  Jersey.  \. 


FIGS.  172  and  173.  —  Wisconsin. 


England  pottery.  This  is  the  row  of  large  conical  prominences 
near  the  rim  of  the  vessel,  three  of  which  are  seen  on  fig.  175.  These 
prominences  are  made 
by  punching  from  the 
inside,  while  the  clay  is 
yet  soft;  and  the  de 
pressions  there  made 
correspond  in  depth  to 
the  knob-like  elevations 
on  the  exterior  surface. 
Were  these  prominences 
regularly  placed  and  of 
more  uniform  size,  they 


FlG.  174.  —  Massachusetts. 


FIG.  175.  —  New  Jersey. 


would    be   really   ornamental.      Figs.   176   and   177  represent   frag 
ments  from  Illinois  with   the   same   character  of  marking.     One  of 


POTTERY. 


the  prominences  has  been  worn  off,  thus  perforating  the  side  of  the 
vessel. 

Fig.  178  represents  a  style  of  ornamentation  of  rare  occurrence. 


FIGS.  176  and  177.  —  Illinois. 

In  this  case  a  hollow  tube  has  been  pushed  deeply  into  the  soft  clay, 
and  a  mass  removed  equal  to  the  calibre  of  the  tube,  and  the  depth 
to  which  it  penetrated.  This  is  nearly  to  one-half  the  thickness  of 


FIG.  178.  —  New  Jersey. 


FIG.  179.  —  New  Jersey,    -f. 


the  vessel,  so  that  the  sides  were  necessarily  much  weakened.  The 
inside  of  the  vessel  has  not  been  bulged  or  at  all  affected  by  this 
method  of  marking  the  exterior  surface ;  but  the  spaces  are  too  thin 


1 84 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 


where  the  depressions  are  opposite  to  be  durable,  and  possibly  for  this 
reason,  vessels  were  so  rarely  ornamented  in  this  manner. 

Fig.  179  represents  a  very  plain  and  prosaic  manner  of  decorating 
pottery.  The  semilunar  lines  are  merely  the  impress  of  the  thumb 
nail  upon  the  clay  while  it  was  yet  soft.  It  would,  indeed,  be  possible 
to  make  such  lines  by  other  methods,  but  the  general  impression  this 
style  of  ornamentation  gives  us,  is  doubtless  the  true  one ;  that  in  lieu 


FIG.  1 80.  —  New  Jersey,     -y. 

of  a  cord  or  pointed  stick,  the  potter  utilized  her  thumb-nail,  and  gave  a 
multiplicity  of  "new  moons"  to  the  dish  or  pot  that  she  had  fashioned. 
Another  and  very  common  method  of  relieving  the  plain  surfaces 
of  brown  earthenware,  was  by  wrapping  a  cord  about  the  vessel  before 
it  was  burnt,  which  gave  linear  impressions  of  a  rude  pattern,  as  is 
shown  in  the  two  right  hand  specimens  of  the  group  forming  fig.  1 80 ; 
or  by  covering  the  vessel  with  coarse  cloth,  which  produced  the  more 
elaborate  marking,  seen  in  the  other  specimens  of  the  group.  These 
styles  of  ornamentation,  known  as  "  cord- marked "  and  "cloth- 
marked,"  are  found  wherever  pottery  occurs  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard. 


CHAPTER    XII. 


STEATITE  FOOD-VESSELS. 


THROUGHOUT  the  eastern  and  middle  states,  wherever  other  traces  of 
the  former  occupants  of  this  country  are  found,  there  will  usually  be 
among  them  fragments  of  steatite  or  soapstone  that  have  been  shaped 
and  smoothed  artificially.  These  fragments,  which  are  as  readily  rec 
ognized  as  the  sherds  that  often  cover  the  ground  on  the  former  sites 
of  Indian  villages,  are  portions  of  steatite  vessels  that  were  in  common 
use  among  the  Indians,  from  Maine  to  Maryland.  "  They  are,  gener 
ally,  more  or  less  oblong  in  shape,  rather  shallow,  and  provided  with 
two  knobs,  or  handles.  In  fact,  the  term  dish  would  probably  convey 
a  better  idea  of  their  shape  than  the  term  pot,  though  the  latter  is  ap 
plicable,  as  they  often  bear  evidence  of  having  been  in  contact  with 
fire  and  were  undoubtedly  used  for  the  preparation  and  cooking  of 
food.  The  accompanying  illustration,  fig.  181,  representing  a  por 
tion  of  one  of  these  vessels  from  Massachusetts,  illustrates  the  common 
form  of  these  pots,  though  there  are  numerous  variations  in  size  and 
shape."  (F.  W.  Putnam  in  the  Eleventh  Annual  Report  of  the  Mu 
seum  of  Archaeology,  at  Cambridge,  Mass.)  Peter  Kalm,  the  Swede, 
who  visited  New  Jersey  in  1 748,  refers  to  the  dishes  in  use  by  the 
Indians  as  "made  sometimes  of  a  greenish,  and  sometimes  of  a  grey 
pot-stone,  and  some  are  made  of  another  species  of  apyrous  stone  ; 
the  bottom  and  the  margin  are  frequently  above  an  inch  thick.  The 
Indians,  notwithstanding  their  being  unacquainted  with  iron,  steel,  and 
other  metals,  have  learnt  to  hollow  out  very  ingeniously  these  pots  or 
kettles  of  pot-stone."  The  number  of  perfect  vessels  that  have  been 
found,  and  the  immense  quantities  of  fragments,  bear  evidence  that 
almost  as  many  vessels  of  steatite,  as  of  clay,  were  in  use. 

(185) 


1 86  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

The  method  of  working  steatite,  both  in  procuring  suitable  masses 
of  the  mineral  from  the  quarry,  and  in  subsequently  shaping  it  into 
vessels  of  the  general  character  found  along  the  Atlantic  coast,  has 
been  so  fully  described  by  Messrs.  Schumacher  and  Putnam,  that  the 
sum  of  their  observations  will  be  here  given,  as  the  best  explanation 
of  this  early  industry  of  our  native  races. 

Mr.  Schumacher51  discovered  on  Santa  Catalina  island,  off  the  coast 
of  California,  "pits  and  quarries"  where  soapstone  vessels  had  been 
made,  and  also  the  tools  used  in  the  several  processes.  The  vessels 
(ollas),  which  in  California  are  globular  or  somewhat  pear-shaped, 


FIG.  181. — Massachusetts.     \. 

are  roughly  blocked  out  in  the  living  rock  by  the  use  of  rude  slate 
chisels,  some  of  which  bear  a  marked  resemblance  to  the  European 
palaeolithic  implements.  "  After  the  pot-form  had  been  worked  out, 
it  was  broken  from  the  living  rock  by  working  under  it  and  by  gradual 
pressure  of  the  chisel  around  the  base.  The  detached  pot-bowlder 
was  next  rounded  into  proper  form  ;  it  was  then  hollowed  out  until  a 
certain  thickness  of  the  pot  was  reached  ;  and  finally,  carefully  finished 
with  the  scraper.  As  the  thickness  of  the  olla  increases  towards  the 
bottom — it  usually  thickens  from  about  half  an  inch  at  the  rim  to  one 

51  Schumacher.     Eleventh  Annual  Report  of  the  Peabody  Museum  of  Archaeology,  p.  258. 
Cambridge,  Mass. 


STEATITE    FOOD-VESSELS.  187 

and  a  half  at  the  bottom — it  requires  skill  to  attain  this  evenly.  No 
mechanical  apparatus  was  used  for  this  purpose  (as  shown  by  certain 
irregularities  in  the  form  of  the  pot)  but  simply  the  touch  of  both 
hands  in  anteposition,  one  gliding  outside  the  already  finished  surface 
while  the  other  worked  inside  towards  the  guiding  hand.  In  this  wise, 
with  some  practical  experience,  a  greater  accuracy  is  attainable  than  at 
first  might  be  supposed,  especially  if  the  work  proceeds  from  a  known 
thickness  to  which  reference  can  be  taken,  which  is  here  the  case  as 
it  progressed  from  the  rim.  % 

"A  new  pot  is  without  polish,  and  has  only  the  smooth  surface  im 
parted  by  the  scraper ;  while  those  which  had  been  in  use  attained 
frequently  a  polished  surface  by  wear,  which  the  soft  and  greasy  nature 
of  the  potstone  is  inclined  to  adopt." 

As  the  forms  of  pots  or  food-vessels  found  on  the  Atlantic  coast  are 
flatter  and  mc^re  dish-like,  the  same  skill  was  not  required  in  their  pro 
duction  ;  but  the  finish  and  occasionally  the  ornamentation  make  the 
ware,  that  was  produced  by  the  Indians  of  the  Atlantic  coast,  no  less 
artistic  and  desirable  for  all  culinary  purposes.  The  same  method  of 
working  the  rock,  while  in  place,  was  practised  by  the  Atlantic  coast 
tribes,  as  was  adopted  by  the  former  occupants  of  Santa  Catalina  island. 
A  ledge  of  steatite  has  been  examined  and  is  thus  described  by  Mr. 
Putnam;52  "At  the  time  of  my  visit,  many  *  *  *  *  rude  chisels 
(roughly  pointed  stones  that  were  lying  about  and  bearing  evidence  oi 
having  been  used)  had  been  carted  a  few  hundred  yards  distant  to  fill 
up  a  low  piece  of  ground  and  others  had  been  thrown  in  a  pile  on  the 
ledge.  A  careful  estimate  of  the  number  convinced  me  that  at  least 
two  thousand  of  these  rude  stone  chisels  had  been  found  on  the  ledge, 
or  in  the  immediate  vicinity.  They  were  all  nearly  the  same  size, 
rudely  chipped  to  a  blunt  point  at  one  end,  and  roughly  rounded  to 
fit  the  hand  at  the  other.  Those  brought  to  the  museum  vary  in  length 
from  five  to  eight  and  one-half  inches,  and  in  weight  from  one  to  four 
pounds ;  the  majority  being  about  seven  inches  in  length  and  from 

52  Putnam,  /.  c.,  p.  273. 


1 88  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

two  to  three  pounds  in  weight.  These  chisels  were  made  from  the  hard 
stone  of  adjoining  ledges,  and  their  manufacture  must  have  required 
considerable  labor.  A  short  trial  of  the  chisels  upon  the  soapstone 
showed  the  facility  with  which  the  steatite  could  be  pecked  by  these 
rough  implements,  and  what  patience  combined  with  muscle  would 
accomplish. 

"Associated  with  the  stone  picks,  or  chisels,  were  between  seventy- 
five  and  a  hundred  large  rounded  stones,  weighing  from  twenty-five  to 
a  hundred  or  more  pounds  each,  which  might  have  been  used  as  ham 
mers  for  the  purpose  of  breaking  off  large  masses  of  the  soapstone. 

"The  bed  of  steatite  had  been  excavated  its  full  width,  and  nearly 
all  its  length  and  depth  as  far  as  at  present  exposed.  The  remains  ol 
the  circular  and  oval  masses,  that  had  been  broken  off  from  the  sides 
of  the  ledge,  showed  that  the  seam  of  steatite  was  formerly  from  six  to 
twelve  feet  deep  ;  the  whole  of  this  mass  of  rock  having  been  worked 
out  and  probably  made,  into  utensils. 

"Several  fragments  of  pots  were  found  in  the  debris  of  the  ledge, 
evidently  broken  during  manufacture,  and  also  several  unfinished  pot- 
forms  just  as  detached  from  the  matrix ;  while  on  the  ledge  itself  the 
pot-forms  could  be  followed  out  through  their  various  stages  of  devel 
opment. 

"The  fact  that  soapstone  vessels,  of  the  peculiar  shape  and  char 
acter  of  those  made  at  this  ancient  New  England  manufactory,  are 
widely  distributed  east  of  the  Mississippi  river,  though  more  common 
in  the  New  England  states  than  elsewhere,  may  be  one  of  the  many 
indications  of  aboriginal  trade." 

Fig.  182  represents  a  second  and  more  nearly  perfect  example  of 
the  average  soapstone  vessels  that  are  common  to  the  Atlantic  sea 
board.  Judging  from  the  character  of  the  innumerable  fragments  that 
have  been  gathered,  the  great  majority  of  these  vessels  were  less  than 
one  foot  in  length  and  comparatively  few  were  circular  or  globular  in 
shape.  Of  a  large  series  in  the  Gilbert  museum  at  Amherst  College, 
the  majority  have  a  capacity  of  several  quarts,  and  one,  of  unusual 
size,  a  capacity  of  about  sixteen  quarts ;  but  these  are  exceptional. 


STEATITE    FOOD-VESSELS.  1 89 

While  the  New  England  examples  of  steatite  vessels  as  a  rule,  have 
perfectly  plain  exterior  surfaces,  those  found  in  New  Jersey  were  fre 
quently  quite  elaborately  ornamented  with  deeply  incised  lines,  similar 
to  much  of  the  aboriginal  pottery  found  in  that  state,  and  this  resem 
blance  was  increased  by  exposing  them  to  the  fire. 

Unfinished  steatite  vessels  have  frequently  been  found  in  New 
Jersey,  at  considerable  distances  from  any  known  ledge  of  soapstone, 
worked  by  the  Indians,  and  it  is  supposed  that  they  were  carried  to 
tribes  not  having  access  to  the  mineral,  and  bartered  in  this  unfinished 
condition,  in  order  that  the  purchaser  might  finish  them  to  suit  himself, 
or  rather  herself,  as  it  is  probable  that  this  kind  of  work  fell  to  the  lot 
of  the  women.  However  this  may  be,  it  is  difficult  otherwise  to 


FIG.  182.  — New  Jersey,    J. 

explain  the  occurrence  of  these  scarcely  more  than  blocked-out  speci 
mens  of  steatite  pots  and  dishes. 

It  has  been  frequently  noticed  by  collectors  and  others  that,  in 
limited  localities,  many  fragments  of  steatite  vessels  are  found,  and 
while  ordinary  forms  of  stone  implements  may  be  abundant,  there  is 
no  trace  of  pottery.  This  absence  of  pottery,  where  steatite  was 
abundant,  has  been  commented  upon,  and  some  very  questionable 
assertions  made  concerning  the  use  of  the  two  materials.  The  absence 
of  fragments  of  pottery  is,  of  itself,  but  negative  evidence  that  the 
people  who  used  stone  vessels  did  not  use  pottery  also.  When  we 
consider  that  pottery  occurs  in  the  middle  shellheap  period,  and  no 
steatite  is  found  referable  to  so  early  a  period,  it  is  more  than  probable 


190  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

that  the  use  of  soapstone  is  of  a  comparatively  recent  date,  and  in  no 
locality  east  of  the  Mississippi  river  had  it  wholly  replaced  the  more 
convenient  and  more  fragile  vessels  of  clay. 

It  can  scarcely  be  held,  on  the  other  hand,  that  where  there  occurs 
an  abundance  of  pottery,  no  steatite  vessels  were  ever  used,  because 
no  traces  of  them  are  found.  Stone  vessels  of  the  character  of  the 
average  soapstone  pots  of  the  Atlantic  coast  Indians  were  not  readily 
broken,  and  scores  of  them  might  have  been  in  use  for  weeks  or  months, 
and  yet  all  escaped  destruction,  and  be  carried  away  by  the  people 
occupying  the  site  whereon  the  pottery  fragments  were  found.  In 
New  Jersey,  no  village  site  that  has  been  carefully  examined  has 
failed  to  produce  a  few  fragments  of  soapstone,  and  many  of  pottery ; 
but  often,  so  worn,  discolored  and  pebble-like  were  the  fragments  of 
steatite,  that  it  is  very  possible  that  pieces  of  vessels  made  of  this 
material  have  been  overlooked,  and  there  is  abundant  evidence  to 
show  that  fragments  of  these  soapstone  vessels  were  frequently  used 
by  the  Indians  as  available  crude  material  for  small  pendants  and 
other  objects.  In  some  cases,  the  fragments  have  been  perforated  in 
one  corner,  and  the  broken  edges  simply  worn  smooth. 

Early  unpublished  records  of  the  customs  of  the  Indians  that 
lingered  in  New  Jersey,  after  the  English  settlers  had  firmly  established 
the  city  of  Philadelphia,  refer  to  the  cooking  vessels  of  stone  made 
by  the  savages,  and  mention  the  great  abundance  of  them  found  by 
the  farmers  when  ploughing,  for  the  first  few  times,  their  newly  occupied 
fields.  These  steatite  pots,  that  the  Indians  had  discarded,  were  gen 
erally  preserved  and  were  found  "exceedingly  useful  in  the  kitchen." 


CHAPTER    XIII 


PITTED    STONES. 


AMONG  the  many  stone  objects  that  are  to  be  classed  strictly  as 
domestic  utensils,  left  by  the  former  occupants  of  the  Atlantic  sea 
board  of  North  America,  are  certain  slabs  of  hard  stone,  that  have 
been  deeply  pitted  in  one  or  more-  places.  While  no  one  shape  or 
size  can  be  considered  as  typical,  the  majority  are  slabs  measuring 
about  one  foot  square,  with  from  three  to  ten  pits,  usually  upon  one 
side  only,  though  occasionally  they  are  found  upon  both.  Like  the 
slabs  themselves,  these  hollows  or  pits  vary  considerably  in  size,  the 
largest  measuring  nearly  two  inches  in  diameter,  the  smallest  about 
half  an  inch. 

As  is  usually  the  case  with  domestic  utensils,  these  implements  are 
of  common  occurrence  on  village  sites,  but  are  rarely  found  singly 
in  out-of-the-way  places.  So  far  as  the  series  gathered  in  New  Jersey 
bears  upon  this  matter,  it  may  be  stated  that  nearly  one  hundred  were 
found  where  the  ground  was  literally  covered  with  fragments  of  pottery 
and  steatite  pots,  mixed  with  charcoal  and  other  evidences  of  fires. 
Whatever  may  have  been  the  purpose  of  these  pitted  stones,  it  is  evi 
dent  that  they  were  closely  connected  with  household,  and  probably, 
culinary  occupations. 

Fig.  183  represents  an  excellent  example  of  these  stones,  although 
it  exhibits  more  traces  of  artificial  shaping  in  the  slab  itself,  than  is 
usual.  This  specimen  is  nearly  square  in  section.  On  one  side  is  a 
series  of  the  pits  which  characterize  these  implements.  They  have 
been  carefully  pecked  out,  and  are  quite  rough.  In  no  specimen 
found  in  New  Jersey  is  there  any  trace  of  rubbing,  or  of  polish.  This 
characteristic  roughness  in  the  pits  seems  to  show  that  they  were  not 

(191) 


192 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 


used  in  any  way  connected  with  a  revolving  object,  as  has  been  sug 
gested  with  reference  to  similar  stones  found  in  Ohio,  and  which  have 

been  considered  as  spindle-socket 
stones?*  These  pitted  slabs  are  equally 
abundant  in  the  southern  states,  and 
Col.  C.  C.  Jones,  jr.,54  has  given  many 
reasons  for  believing  that  they  were 
used  as  nut-cracking  stones.  He  re 
marks,  "their  cavities  are  so  located 
that  one,  two,  three,  four,  five,  and 
sometimes  more  nuts  could  be  cracked 
at  a  single  blow;"  and  as  it  is  well 
known  that  our  walnuts,  chestnuts,  shell- 
barks  and  even  acorns  were  largely  used 
as  food,  it  is  more  than  probable  that 
this  suggestion  correctly  explains  the 
use  of  these  implements. 

Unless  they  have  been  overlooked  by 
collectors  generally,  throughout  New 
England,  these  implements  are  npt  com 
mon,  or  it  may  be  that  they  are  entirely 
wanting.  None  appear  to  have  been 
received  at  the  museum  at  Cambridge 
from  any  New  England  locality. 

If  used  as  slabs  upon  which  to  crack 
nuts,  may  it  not  be  that  in  some  localities, 
level  surfaces  of  rocks  in  place  were  used, 
instead  of  portable  slabs,  and  thus  the  ab 
sence  of  the  latter  may  be  accounted  for  ? 

The  depressions  in  these  slabs  of  stone  vary  greatly  in  outline,  some 
being  oval ;  and  also  in  the  degree  of  smoothness  of  the  surface  both  of 

63  Whittlesey,  Ancient  Earth  Forts  of  the  Cuyahoga  Valley,  Ohio,  pp.  33-35,  pi.  viii.     Cleve 
land,  1871. 

*4  Jones,  /.  c.,  p.  319. 


FIG.  183.  —  New  Jersey. 


PITTED    STONES. 


the  depressions  and  the  surrounding  level  portion  of  the  slab.  Dr. 
Chas.  Rau  (Smithson.  Contributions  to  Knowledge,  No.  287)  considers 
it  improbable  that  those  of  fine  finish,  with  almost  polished  cup-like 
depressions  should  have  been  used  merely  for  nut-cracking,  and 
suggests  that  they  were  used  as  receptacles  for  paint.  A  fact  that  has 
some  bearing  upon  this  point  is  that  of  the  occurrence  occasionally  of 
small  specimens  of  these  pitted  stones  in  graves.  It  is  quite  in  accord 
ance  with  what  we  know  of  the  burial  customs  of  the  Indians,  to 
find  among  the  various  articles  inhumed  with  the  dead,  such  objects 
as  related  to  their  toilet,  which  during  life,  were  almost  as  valuable  as 
their  weapons.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  extremely  improbable  that  a 
mere  household  article,  used,  it  may  be,  only  by  the  women,  should  be 
placed  in  a  grave.  The  division,  therefore,  of  these  pitted  slabs  into 
nut-stones  and  paint  cups  is  warranted  ;  but  it  must  be  borne  in  mind, 
that  unquestionable  stone  cups  were  in  common  use,  and  the  use  of 
these  for  toilet  purposes  was  the  rule,  that  of  the  small  pitted  slabs, 
the  exception. 


CHAPTER     XIV. 


CHIPPED  FLINT  IMPLEMENTS. 


ALTHOUGH  the  term  "flint  implement"  has  acquired  a  meaning  too 
comprehensive  to  justify  its  employment  as  a  descriptive  term,  yet  it 
still  seems  necessary,  with  our  present  limited  knowledge  of  the  various 
uses  of  certain  objects  of  Indian  make,  to  apply  it  to  some  forms  of 
stone  objects.  We  can  feel  well  assured,  on  examining  the  specimens 
referred  to,  that  they  are  finished  implements,  and  that  they  have  been 
made  by  chipping.  Beyond  this,  all  is  conjecture. 

Guided  by  the  study  of  other  forms,  there  is  but  little  doubt  that 
these  roughly  chipped,  and  indefinitely  shaped  flint  implements,  of 
the  several  different  patterns  and  sizes,  were  intended  for  widely  differ 
ent  purposes.  As  the  use  or  uses  of  any  one  of  them  is  not  known, 
and  as  they  have  many  points  in  common,  it  is  better  to  treat  them 
collectively,  rather  than  to  consider  them  solely  with  reference  to  such 
differences  as  are  suggestive  of  varied,  but  undetermined  uses. 

Of  the  larger  objects  treated  in  the  present  chapter,  there  has 
been  much  written  ;  and  some  evidence  has  been  adduced  to  show 
that  they  were  agricultural  implements,  or  "spades;"  but  of  those 
found  in  New  Jersey,  but  very  few  bear  trace  of  use,  such  as  digging 
in  sandy  soil  would  inevitably  produce,  and  spades  of  a  different 
pattern,  that  do  bear  the  marks  of  such  use,  are  quite  common.  Of 
the  smaller  sizes,  little  can  be  said,  as  their  form  is  essentially  indefi 
nite.  There  are  possibly  a  score  of  uses  to  which  they  are  adapted, 
but  there  is  no  evidence  that  any  one  of  them  was  really  that  of  the 
implement. 

Fig.  184  represents  a  good  typical  specimen  of  one  of  the 
indefinite  implements  of  chipped  flint,  to  which  reference  has 

(195) 


196  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

been  made.     The  character  of  the   chipping  shows  that  the  speci- 


FIG.  184.  — New  Jersey 


CHIPPED    FLINT   IMPLEMENTS.  igy 

men  was  unquestionably  finished,  and  not  a  "blocked-out"  example 
of  some  other  form. 

The  implement  most  nearly  allied  to  this  specimen  is  the  "shovel" 
described  by  Dr.  Chas.  Rau,55  as  an  "oval  plate  of  flint,  flat  on 
one  side  and  slightly  convex  on  the  other,  the  outline  being  chipped 
to  a  sharp  edge."  Fig.  184,  on  the  contrary,  is  identically  chipped 
upon  both  sides,  and  this  is  true  of  nearly  two  hundred  that  have  been 
found.  As  the  evidence  that  the  Illinois  specimens  were  spades  or 
shovels,  found  in  "the  peculiar  traces  of  wear  which  they  exhibit,"  or 
the  "glaze"  and  striae  extending  "in  the  direction  in  which  the  imple 
ment  penetrated  the  ground,"  is  almost  wholly  absent  in  all  cases  that 
have  come  under  my  observation,  there  is  of  course  no  reason  for 
pronouncing  these  New  Jersey  specimens  to  be  spades. 

Fig.  185  represents  a  second  example  of  these  large,  broad  imple 
ments  of  undetermined  use.  This  specimen  varies  but  little  from  the 
preceding.  Both  belong  to  a  series  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  which 
were  discovered  in  ploughing.  They  were  carefully  packed  together 
in  the  smallest  possible  compass,  about  two-thirds  of  the  number  being 
placed  on  one  end,  and  walled  about  with  the  remaining  third,  lying 
on  their  sides,  and  overlapping  each  other.  Had  these  specimens  been 
alike,  or  had  they  even  resembled  each  other  as  much  as  do  figs.  184 
and  185,  it  might  have  been  maintained  that  they  were  a  deposit  of 
unused  shovels  ;  but  many  of  the  series  were  considerably  shorter,  some 
being  scarcely  more  than  half  the  size,  and  quite  acutely  pointed.  As 
there  was  a  gradation  in  size,  there  was  evidently  a  mixture  of  differ 
ent  implements,  and  how  are  we  to  determine  the  limits  of  shovel 
measurements  and  the  maximum  size  of  the  nearest  allied  implement  ? 
Setting  aside  the  fact,  that  unquestionable  shovels  and  hoes  of  very 
different  patterns  are  of  common  occurrence,  there  is  nothing  to  war 
rant  the  conclusion  that  these  implements,  so  essentially  unlike  the 
undoubted  western  shovels  described  by  Dr.  Rau,  belong  to  that  class 
of  agricultural  implements. 

55  Rau.     Smithsonian  Annual  Report  for  1868,  p.  401,  fig.  i,  Washington,  D.  C. 


198 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 


While  it  is  undoubtedly  true  that  the  majority  of  "deposits"  of  flint 
implements  have  consisted  of  these  large  forms  of  uncertain  uses,  there 


FIG.  185.  —  New  Jersey,    -p 

seems  to  be  nothing  in  this  fact,  that  throws  any  light  upon  the  nature 


CHIPPED   FLINT   IMPLEMENTS.  199 

of  the  implements  themselves.  .  Dr.  J.  F.  Snyder,  of  Virginia,  Illinois, 
has  given  us  a  very  interesting  account  of  a  number  of  these  deposits, 
discovered  in  the  west,  but  as  he  refers  to  the  deposits  of  other  forms 
also,  it  is  evident  that  the  fact  of  their  concealment  in  the  ground  has 
nothing  to  do  with  their  character.  Already  reference  has  been  made 
to  extensive  deposits  of  spearpoints  and  arrowheads  in  New  Jersey. 
Two  other  instances,  one  of  grooved  axes,  and  the  other  of  polished 
celts,  were  mentioned  when  these  implements  were  described.  Dr. 
Snyder,56  in  his  article  on  "  Deposits  of  Flint  Implements,"  already 
mentioned,  quotes  from  Strachey,  as  follows,  and  it  appears  to  explain 
the  whole  subject  of  buried  implements — "Their  corne,  and  (indeed) 
their  copper,  hatchetts,  howses,  beades,  perle,  and  most  things  with 
them  of  value,  according  to  their  estymacion,  they  hide,  one  from  the 
knowledge  of  another,  in  the  grownd  within  the  woods,  and  so  keepe 
them  all  the  yeare,  or  untill  they  have  fitt  use  for  them." 

Fig.  1 86  represents  a  chipped  implement  similar  to  the  preceding, 
but  much  smaller.  While  the  larger  examples  of  this  pattern  are  but 
very  rarely  found  singly  upon  the  surface,  those  of  this  reduced  size 
are  by  no  means  uncommon.  This  would  seem  to  afford  some  reason 
for  supposing  that  they  had  been  used  in  an  essentially  different  man 
ner,  or  why  should  we  not  find  the  larger  size  also?  Fig.  186  bears  a 
very  marked  resemblance  to  one  of  a  large  series  figured  by  Dr.  Chas. 
Rau,  and  described  as  "  roughly  edged  fragments,  which  were  destined 
to  be  made  into  arrow  and  spearheads  at  some  future  time."  As  such 
objects  have  not  been  found  in  the  chips  on  the  sites  of  arrowmakers' 
workshops,  but  are  scattered  singly  about,  as  is  the  case  with  other 
forms,  and  as  some  of  this  size  were  associated  with  the  larger  speci 
mens  here  figured,  the  assumption  that  they  are  raw  material,  from 
which  other  forms  of  implements  were  chipped,  is  hardly  warranted 
by  the  facts. 

Assuming  that  they  are  finished  implements,  it  has  been  suggested 


56  Snyder.     Annual    Report,  Smithsonian   Inst.  for    1876,   p.  433.      Washington,   D.  C.     The 
History  of  Travaile  in  Virginia;  by  William  Strachey,  printed  for  the  Hakluyt  Society. 


2OO 


PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 


that  they  were  used  to  some  extent  as  blades  or  points  to  war-clubs. 
In  describing  the  several  forms  of  war-clubs  formerly  used  by  the 
Iroquois,  mention  is  made  of  one  armed  with  deer's  horn."57  It  was 
made  of  hard  wood,  elaborately  carved,  painted  and  ornamented  with 
feathers  at  the  ends.  In  the  lower  edge,  a  sharp  pointed  deer's  horn, 
about  four  inches  in  length,  was  inserted.  It  was  thus  rendered  a 

dangerous  weapon  in 
close  combat,  and  would 
inflict  a  deeper  wound 
than  the  former  (one 
with  a  ball) .  They  wore 
it  in  the  girdle.  At  a 
later  period,  they  used 
the  same  species  of  club, 
substituting  a  steel  or 
iron  blade  resembling  a 
spearhead."  May  it  not 
be,  that  many  of  these 
short,  thick,  pointed  jas 
per  objects,  such  as  fig. 
1 86,  were  used,  in  the 
manner  described  by  Mr. 
Morgan?  Stone,  as  a 
ball,  was  used  to  weight 
a  club,  and  Schoolcraft58 
has  figured  a  series  of 
war-clubs  of  various  fin 
ish,  some  of  which  are 
mounted  with  distinctly  pointed  hatchets  of  stone.  Strongly  made  as 
all  such  specimens  as  fig.  186  are,  they  are  now  frequently  found  with 
their  points  broken  off;  showing  they  had  been  exposed  to  violent 


FIG.  i86.~New  Jersey, 


57  Morgan.     League  of  the  Iroquois,  p.  363.     New  York,  1850. 

58  Schoolcraft.     Hist,  and  Cohdit.  Ind.  Tribes,  pt.  II,  plates  73-74. 


CHIPPED    FLINT   IMPLEMENTS. 


2OI 


usage.  While  the  purpose  of  these  "flints"  may  be  very  different 
from  that  suggested,  there  is  evidence  that,  occasionally,  such  use  was 
made  of  them.  In  the  autumn  of  i8^,59  three  chipped  jasper  speci 
mens  of  short  flints  were  found  in  three  graves,  each  of  which  had 
been  inserted  in  one  end  of  the  femur  of  an  elk  (  ?) .  The  bones  had 
so  far  decayed,  that  they  were  destroyed  utterly,  in  attempting  to  re 
move  them.  Two  of  these  flints  were,  similar  to  fig.  186,  but  the  other 
was  apparently  the  pointed  half  of  such  an  implement  as  fig.  185. 


FIG.  187. —  New  Jersey,     -f. 

Figs.  187  and  188  represent  specimens  of  very  indefinite  patterns, 
having  no  feature  that  is  suggestive  of  use.  They  are  almost  too  blunt 
to  be  considered  as  possible  points  to  a  war-club.  Certainly  this  is 
the  case  with  the  former.  The  edges  appear  to  be  in  their  original 
chipped  condition,  and  if  so,  they  are  not  sufficiently  sharp  to  warrant 
us  in  classing  the  implement  as  a  cutting  tool.  Neither  do  they  bear 
any  resemblance  to  the  larger  scrapers. 


69  Abbott.    American  Naturalist,  vol.  x,  p.  116.     Boston,  Mass.,  1876. 


2O2 


PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 


The  association  of  these  forms,  with  all  the  others,  especially  on  village 
sites,  gives  us  evidence  that  they  are  finished  implements,  and  beyond 
this,  it  seems  difficult  to  proceed.  They  bear  considerable  resem 
blance  to  many  of  the  palaeolithic  implements  found  in  Europe,  but  as 
the  purpose  of  these  latter  is  unknown,  the  similarity  throws  no  light 
upon  the  use  of  those  found  in  New  Jersey. 

Fig.  189  represents  a  beautiful  specimen  of  a  chipped  jasper  imple 
ment,  from  Massachusetts,  so  marked  in  every  feature,  that  its  associa 
tion  with  the  preceding  forms  is  apparently  an  error.  It  is,  however, 


FIG.  188. — New  Jersey,     -f. 

simply  the  maximum  size  of  the  narrow  and  pointed  kind  of  imple 
ments,  and  from  it  a  series  without  a  break  can  be  made  down  to 
those  with  such  an  indefinite  outline,  that  no  use  can  be  imagined  for 
them.  Fig.  189  may  or  may  not  be  a  spearpoint,  lancehead,  or  dagger. 
Undoubted  objects  of  this  character,  of  a  very  different  pattern,  are  of 
frequent  occurrence,  but  it  is  very  seldom  that  a  specimen  of  chipped 
jasper  implement  of  this  form  is  met  with. 

This  specimen  measures  eight  imches  in  length,  by  two  and  five- 
eighths  inches  in  width ;  is  very  thin  and  acutely  pointed.     That  it 


CHIPPED   FLINT   IMPLEMENTS. 


203 


was  not  an  implement  of  every-day  use  is  shown  by  their  great  scarcity, 
and  also  by  the  fact  that  it  is  so  delicate  that  the  slightest  rough  usage 
would  break  it.  In  this,  it  closely  resembles  the  long,  thin,  dagger-like 
implements  found  in  southern 
California  and  Tennessee. 

Fig.   190  is  an  example  of 
flint  implement  which,  in  size 


FIG.  189.  —  Massachusetts. 


FIG.  190.— New  Jersey,    -}-. 


and  character  of  chipping,  might  readily  be  used  as  a  knife,  spear  or 
dagger ;  although,  as  it  has  neither  a  notched  nor  a  stemmed  base,  the 


204  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

difficulty  of  attaching  it  to  a  handle,  renders  it  somewhat  doubtful, 
whether  it  has  been  used  as  such  an  implement  or  as  a  weapon. 

Other  forms  of  these  chipped  jasper  implements  are  found  occa 
sionally,  but  none  that  differ  in  any  important  manner  from  those  that 
have  been  here  figured ;  unless  we  except  such  as  are  distinctly 
pointed  at  both  ends.  These  are  not  so  common  as  those  that  have  a 
blunt  base. 

Mr.  S.  L.  Frey60  has  figured  a  specimen  of  this  kind,  found  in  New 
York  ;  one  of  three  taken  from  a  grave.  When  of  sufficient  length  to 
be  used  as  the  ahead"  of  a  war-club,  might  not  these  doubly  pointed 
implements  have  been  passed  through  the  club  handle,  and  so  make  a 
doubly  armed  weapon  ?  The  edges  of  all  these  implements  are  too 
sharp  or  jagged  to  have  been  held  in  the  unprotected  hand,  even  if 
only  used  as  knives.  This  fact  suggests  the  probability  of  a  handle  of 
some  kind. 

In  a  MS.  notice  of  the  antiquities  of  Onondaga  County,  New  York, 
to  which  reference  has  already  been  made,  there  are  drawings  of 
several  flint  "  lance-heads  "  of  large  sizes.  Fig.  8  of  the  MS.  measures 
nine  and  one-half  inches  in  length,  by  two  and  one-half  inches  in 
width  for  nearly  two-thirds  of  the  length,  when  the  blade  rapidly 
narrows  to  an  acute  point.  This  specimen,  while  of  unusual  length, 
is  not  finely  worked  nor  symmetrical  in  its  outline. 

*°Frey.     American  Naturalist,  vol.  xiii,  p.  641. 


CHAPTER     XV 


BONE    IMPLEMENTS. 


To  a  certain  extent,  bone,  instead  of  stone  was  habitually  used  for 
marking  many  forms  of  domestic  utensils  and  weapons  j  but  exactly 
how  far  it  replaced  stone  is  questionable.  Still,  it  must  be  remembered 
that  bone,  being  far  more  perishable  than  stone,  may  have  been  used 
in  the  manufacture  of  many  kinds  of  implements  that  have  long  since 
crumbled  into  dust.  Hence,  the  absence  of  implements  of  this  ma 
terial  cannot  always  be  taken  as  evidence  that  they  were  not  used. 
After  making  due  allowance  for  all  possible  conditions,  it  is  probable 
that  implements  of  bone  are  exceptional.  In  no  known  inland  local 
ity  do  they  outnumber  those  of  stone,  and  only  in  the  New  England 
shellheaps  can  they  be  considered  as  more  common. 

In  New  Jersey  the  occurrence  of  single  objects  made  of  bone,  with 
here  and  there  an  occasional  bead,  is  quite  unusual.  Less  than  half 
a  dozen  specimens  of  handiwork  in  this  material  are  among  a  series 
of  nearly  twenty  thousand  stone  implements  from  this  state. 

In  the  Mohawk  valley,  New  York,  Mr.  Frey61  found  bone  imple 
ments  to  be  "much  more  rare  than  those  of  stone,"  and  also  remarks 
that  "the  sites  of  villages  that  are  uncleared  and  uncultivated,  and 
where  these  bone  tools  alone  are  found,  are  very  few." 

Prof.  Wyman,62  on  the  other  hand,  speaks  of  bone  implements  in 
the  Massachusetts  shellheaps  as  "quite  abundant." 

Fig.  191  represents  a  bone  spoon,  of  a  peculiar  pattern.     It  is  care- 


**  Frey.     Amer.  Nat.,  vol.  xii,  p.  752,  figs.  15  and  16.     Philad.,  1878. 
«2  Wyman.     Amer.  Nat.,  vol.  i,  p.  581,  plates  14  and  15.     Salem,  Mass.,  1868. 

(205) 


2O6 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


fully  shaped  from  a  portion  of  the  bone  of  the  jaw  of  a  porpoise. 
The  handle  has  been  quite  elaborately  ornamented  with  incised  lines, 
placed  at  regular  distances,  which  produce  a  pleasing  effect. 

This  specimen  is  one  of  four,  now  preserved  in  the  museum  of  the 
Academy  of  Science,  at  Salem,  Mass. 
The  other  specimens  vary  somewhat  from 
this  in  shape,  being  all  of  them  shorter, 
and  in  two  instances  much  broader.  The 
four  specimens  were  found  in  an  Indian 
grave  in  Lagrange  street,  Salem,  Mass. 

In  the  same  museum  is  a  fifth  example, 
varying  in  no  important  particular,  which 
was  found  also  in  an  Indian  grave  at 
Eagle  Hill,  Ipswich,  Essex  Co.,  Mass. 

It  is  not  probable  that  many  bone 
spoons  of  this  pattern  were  ever  in  use, 
as  they  certainly  were  in  nowise  as 
serviceable  as  many  natural  productions  ; 
especially  portions  of  many  of  the  larger 
marine  shells,  and  of  some  of  the  fresh 
water  bivalves,  which,  without  any  alter 
ation,  could  readily  be  used  for  the  same 
purpose.  Indeed,  Holm63  speaks  of  such 
shells  as  being  in  use  among  the  Delaware 
Indians;  remarking  that  "their  spoons 
were  muscle  shells,"  which  shells  they 
also  used  in  boat  building.  (See  Chapter 
XVIII.) 

Fig.  192  represents  a  spoon  or  paddle- 

Rc.  19,. -Massachusetts,     f  ^^     bQne     implementj    made     from     a 

portion  of  a  rib  of  some  large  mammal,  probably  an  elk.  To  what 
extent  the  specimen  is  fragmentary  cannot  be  determined,  but  while 


63  Holm,  /.  c.   p.  124. 


BONE   IMPLEMENTS. 


207 


apparently  a  portion  of  some  implement,  it  is  not  evident  what  was 
its  character.  It  certainly  bears  no  resemblance  to  the  bone  spoons 
made  of  the  jaw  of  the  porpoise,  as  represented  in  fig.  191.  The 
narrower  portion  has  been  cut  or 
ground  away  to  some  extent,  and  the 
edges  are  quite  smoothly  polished. 
Near  the  end  of  this  handle-like 
portion,  there  is  a  countersunk  per 
foration,  and  upon  the  concave  side 
of  the  wider  part  there  are  rudely 
outlined  the  heads  of  two  birds. 

In  the  collections  of  domestic  im 
plements  and  weapons  of  the  Alaskan 
and  northwest  coast  Indians,  in  the 
museum  at  Cambridge,  are  large 
series  of  wooden  implements,  many 
of  which  are  known  to  be  wooden 
spoons,  while  others  are  considered 
as  "models  of  paddles."  Many  of 
the  former  have  no  greater  resem 
blance  to  a  spoon  than  the  example 
of  supposed  bone  spoon,  here  figured, 
but  all  are  highly  decorated,  either 
by  painting  or  elaborate  carving.  A 
series  of  seventeen,  in  a  cylindrical 
basket,  of  Haidah  Indian  manu 
facture  (P.  M.  No.  17,021),  are  all 
ornamented  in  either  one  or  both 
ways,  as  mentioned.  If  used  as 
domestic  implements,  as  is  probable, 

FIG.  192.  — New  Jersey.     -}-. 

they  are    no    doubt   represented,  in 

the  implements  of  the  Atlantic  coast  tribes,  by  objects  of  the  general 

character  of  fig.  192. 

It  is  of  interest  to  note  the  resemblance  between  these  birds'  heads, 


208 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


and  those  that  occur  on  the  semilimar  slate  knife   (fig.  43,  chap,  v) 
and  upon  the  shell  disks  found  in  the  stone  graves  of  Tennessee. 

Fig.  193  represents  an  interesting  specimen  of  a  bone  fish-hook, 
from  Long  Island.  The  illustration  so  clearly  shows  the  character 
of  the  implement,  that  a  detailed  description  of  it  is  unnecessary. 
Objects  of  this  character  are  exceedingly  rare,  either  as  found  on  the 
surface,  or  in  shellheaps.  While  of  so  simple  a 
form,  bone  fish-hooks  of  this  pattern  do  not  ap 
pear  to  be  common  in  any  locality  in  eastern 
North  America,  although  Peter  Kalm,  in  his 
"Travels  in  North  America,"  writes  of  the 
Delaware  Indians,  that  they  "employ  hooks 
made  of  bone,  or  birds'  claws,  instead  of  fish 
ing  hooks.  Some  of  the  oldest  Swedes  here 
told  me,  that  when  they  were  young,  a  great 
number  of  Indians  had  been  in  this  part  of 
the  country,  which  was  then  called  New  Sweden^ 
and  had  caught  fishes  in  the  river  Delaware, 
with  these  hooks." 

Col.  C.  C.  Jones,  jr.,  remarks  of  the  southern 
Indians,  that  with  them  "  fishing  with  hook  and 
line  seems  to  have  obtained  to  a  very  limited 
extent,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  remarkable 
absence  of  anything  like  bone,  flint  and  shell 
hooks  in  the  mounds  and  refuse  piles.  Very 
few  hooks  have  been  found,  so  far  as  our  in 
formation  extends,  and  they  were  of  bone." 
On  the  Pacific  coast,  bone  hooks  of  a  more  complicated  pattern 
are  not  uncommon.  They  are  made  of  bone  and  shell,  and  differ 
from  the  plain  hooks,  like  fig.  193,  in  having  the  stem  short  and 
curved  towards  the  point  of  the  hook,  and  also,  in  having  a  well 
defined  barb,  on  the  outer  side  of  the  hook,  some  distance  from  the 
point.  Generally  they  are  notched  on  the  outer  edge  of  the  stem,  for 
the  more  secure  attachment  of  the  line,  which,  after  being  wrapped 


FIG.  193.— New  York.    \. 


BONE   IMPLEMENTS. 


209 


about   the  hook,  was  covered  with  asphalt.     (See  pi.  xi,  of  vol.  vii, 
Archaeology,  U.  S.  Geog.  Survey  West  of  looth  Meridian.) 

In  northern  Europe,  this  pattern  of  bone  fish-hook  is  more  common. 
Nilsson,  in  his  admirable  Stone  Age  in  Scandinavia,  figures  a  specimen 
differing  only  in  having  a  very  slight  barb-like  projection,  very  near 
the  point. 

Fig.  193  was  found  in  a  shellheap,  near  Sag  Harbor,  Long  Island, 
New  York,  by  Mr.  W.  W.  Tooker  of  that  place,  to  whom  I  am  in 
debted  for  an  opportunity  of  describing  it.  The  shellheap  from  which 
this  specimen  was  taken  has  yielded  "many  objects  of  Indian  work 
manship,"  but  no  other  specimen,  I  believe,  of  similar  fish-hooks. 

Fig.  194  represents  an  interesting  bone  implement,  which,  it  has 
been  suggested  by  the  late  Professor  Haldeman,  was  used  for  orna 
menting  pottery.  This  implement  is  made  from  one  of  the  long  bones 
of  a  deer,  and  its  entire  surface  has  been  worked  over. 

The  broad  sides  of  this  specimen  are  not  uniform,  level  surfaces, 
but  are  cut  or  ground  off,  so  that  they  slope  irregularly  towards  the 
edges.  As  seen  in  the  illustration,  fig.  194^,  the  implement  is  slightly 
curved,  and  on  the  convex  face  of  the  lower  and  narrower  end,  fig. 
194*:,  are  the  two  grooves,  which  have  been  used,  it  is  believed,  to 
make  the  parallel  lines  so  commonly  found  on  the  pottery  of  the 
Atlantic  seaboard. 

The  upper,  broader  end,  fig.  194,  it  will  be  noticed,  has  five  similar 
grooves ;  these  being  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  implement,  and  thus 
on  the  convex  face  of  this  end. 

This  decorating  stick  or  "ebauchoir"  measures  seven  and  three- 
fourths  inches  in  length,  three-fourths  of  an  inch  in  width  and  one- 
fourth  in  thickness. 

An  examination  of  thousands  of  fragments  of  pottery,  on  which 
were  series  of  lines,  such  as  this  implement  would  produce,  clearly 
showed  that  some  such  object  as  this  was  generally  used  to  make  these 
linear  impressions,  as  there  was  such  a  uniformity  in  the  width  of  these 
lines,  and  in  their  distances  apart,  that  it  can  scarcely  be  conceived 
14 


210 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 


that  each  line  was  separately  produced.  Experiment  with  soft  or  raw 
clay  showed  further  that  an  implement  of  this  kind  produced  the 
identical  lines  in  earthen  vessels,  that  are  found  to  be  characteristic  of 
the  majority  of  the  fragments  that  bestrew  the  ground  in  so  many 
localities,  along  the  northern  Atlantic  seaboard. 

This  interesting  bone  instrument,  which  is  supposed  to  be  a  unique 
specimen,  was  discovered  by  Mr.  F.  G.  Galbraith,  in  the  valley  of  the 
Susquehanna,  in  Lancaster  Co.,  Penn.,  and  by  him  presented  to  the 


FIG.  194.  — Penna.    -[-.  b*  a,  c. 

late  Prof.  S.  S.  Haldeman,  to  whom  the  author  is  indebted  for  the 
excellent  wood-cuts  representing  it. 

Professor  Haldeman,  believing  this  specimen  to  have  been  used  in 
decorating  pottery,  has  suggested  the  name  of  ebauchoir  for  it,  which 
is  a  proper  one  to  adopt,  if  it  is  necessary  to  go  beyond  our  own  lan 
guage  for  terms  that  shall  correctly  convey  a  lucid  idea  of  the  purposes 
of  such  objects  as  were  in  ordinary  use  among  the  Indians. 

Fig.  195  represents  an  implement  which  "is  ten  inches  long,  two 
and  a  half  broad  at  the  top,  and  one  at  the  point.  It  is  made  of  a 
branch  of  the  antler  of  a  moose  or  elk.  The  breadth  of  the  upper 
portion  is  not  seen  in  the  figure,  as  the  piece  is  represented  edgewise. 


BONE    IMPLEMENTS. 


2H 


It  is  obliquely  truncated  at  the  lower  end,  so  as  to  give  it  a  chisel- 
shaped  edge,  and  shows  the  effect  of  having  been  hacked  by  some 
dull  tool.  Attached  to  a  handle  it  might  be  used 
to  dig  with,  or  might  serve  as  a  head-breaker,  or 
'casse-tete,'  as  described  by  Father  Rasles.64 
From  Frenchman's  Bay." 

Fig.  196  represents  "aflat  pointed  instrument, 
three  and  three-quarters  inches  long,  and  one 
and  one-quarter  wide.  It  is  made  of  the  dense 

exterior  portion  of 
an  antler  and  the 
lower  end  has  been 
ground  down  to  a 
thin  sharp  edge  as 
in  fig.  i960."65 


FIG.  195.  — Mass.     £.  FIG.  196.  — Massachusetts,    -f.  i96a. 

Fig.  197  represents  "a  piece  of  one  of  the  branches  of  the  antler 

64  Lettres  Edifiantes  et  Curieuse.     Paris,  1838.     Vol.  i,  p.  670. 

65  Wyman.     Amer.  Nat.,  vol.  i,  p.  580.     The  cuts  here  given,  figs.  195  to  203  inclusive,  with 
the  descriptions,  are  from  this  article. 


212 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 


FIG.  197. — 
Mass.    j. 


of  a  deer,  from  which  the  tip  has  been  cut  off.  The  sides  near  the 
pointed  end  have  been  worked  down  so  as  to  present  four  faces,  two 
of  the  angles  uniting  them  being  quite  acute.  The  detached  piece 
having  a  deep  notch  would  be  provided  with  two  points 
or  barbs  and  would  be  adapted  to  serve  as  the  point  of 
an  arrow.  Such  points  were  used  by  the  aborigines, 
and  we  are  informed  by  Winslow,66 
that  when  the  Pilgrims  were  making 
their  first  explorations  on  the  shore 
at  Cape  Cod,  previously  to  landing 
at  Plymouth,  some  of  the  arrows 
shot  at  them  had  the  kind  of  point 
just  described.  From  Cotuit  Port." 
Fig.  198  represents  "an  arti 
ficially  pointed  fragment.  From 
Crouch's  Cove." 

Fig.  199  represents  "an  artificially  pointed  frag 
ment  of  bone,  suitable  for  use  as  an  awl.  From 
Crouch's  Cove." 

While  bone  awls,  of  the  same  general  pattern 
as  fig.  199,  are  only  of  occasional  occurrence  in 
some  inland  localities,  of  New  Jersey  and  New 
York,  they  are  comparatively  common  in  Ohio  and 
other  western  and  southern  states.  Inasmuch  as 
prehistoric  human  bones  are  frequently  found  in  a 
good  state  of  preservation,  it  is  not  improbable,  to 
say  the  least,  that  bone  awls  also  might  have  es 
caped  destruction  in  many  instances,  and  hence 
that  they  would  be  far  more  common  than  they 
now  are,  had  they  ever  been  in  general  use  among 
the  Indians  of  the  Delaware  valley. 

Fig.  200  represents  "one  of  the  lower  incisors  of  a  beaver,  ground 


FIG.  198.  —  Mass. 


Young's  Chronicles  of  the  Pilgrims,  p.  158.     Boston,  1841. 


BONE   IMPLEMENTS.  213 

to   a   thin,   sharp   edge.     From    Crouch's    Cove."     Mr.    Frey67   has 


FIG.  199. — Mass.    j.  FIG.  200. — Mass.    \.  FIG.  201. — Mass.    \. 

figured  a  somewhat  similar  implement  made  from  a  beaver's  tooth, 

found  in  a  grave  in  the  Mohawk  valley, 
New  York. 

Fig.  201  represents  "  a  fragment  of  a  bone 
of  a  bird,  obliquely  truncated  and  artificially 
sharpened.  From  Crouch's  Cove." 

Fig.  202  represents  "a  well  wrought  and 
polished  spindle-shaped  instrument,  the 
lower  end  of  which  is  flattened,  and  has  a 
sharp  edge  :  the  upper  portion  is  rounded 
with  the  end  broken  off,  but  appears  to 
have  been  worked  to  a  sharp  point.  From 
Frenchman's  Bay." 

Fig.  203  represents  "a  slender  piece  of 
bone,  smoothly  wrought  and  pointed. 
From  Frenchman's  Bay." 

Figs.  204  and  205  represent  other 
forms  of  bone  implements,  both  of  which 
are  "made  of  flattened  pieces,  each  be 
ing  cut  from  the  walls  of  one  of  the  long 


FlGS.  202  and  203.  —  Mass. 


Frey,  /  c.,  p.  782,  fig.  13. 


214 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


bones,  and  showing  the  cancellated   structure  on  one  of  the   sides. 
From  Frenchman's  Bay." 

Figs.  206  and  207  represent  two  other  examples  of  bone  implements 
made  in  the  same  manner  as  the  preceding. 
From  Crouch's  Cove. 

Those  bone  implements  here  described, 
with  lateral  notches,  and  barb-like  projec 
tions,  bear  a  marked  resemblance  to  the 
bone  "dartheads"  figured  and  described 
by  Major  W.  H.  Dall,68  in 
his  admirable  work  on  the 
shellheaps  of  the  Aleutian 
Islands ;  and  also  to  har- 
'(>  WPI1  *  ^i  poons  figured  by  Nilsson,69 


Figs.  204  and  205.  —  Mass. 


in  his  volume  on  Scandinavia.  It 
is  evident  that  these  bone  imple 
ments,  from  the  Massachusetts 
shellheaps,  were  put  to  the  same 
use  as  those  from  the  Pacific  coast 
of  this  continent  and  from  other 
parts  of  the  globe. 

Fig.  208  represents  a  split  frag 
ment  of  a  long  bone,  pointed  at 
one  end.  There  is  nothing  in  the 
specimen  in  its  present  condition, 


FIGS.  206  and  207.  —  Mass.    -J-. 


to  give  any  intimation  of  its  use.     Exact  locality  not  recorded. 

88  Dall.     Tribes  of  the  Extreme  Northwest,  p.  76  and  plate  opposite  (no  number).     Washing 
ton,  D.  C.,  1877. 

69  Nilsson.     Stone  Age  in  Scandinavia,  pi.  iv,  London,  1868. 


BONE    IMPLEMENTS. 


215 


Fig.  209  represents  a  somewhat  similarly  shaped  object,  but  it  has 
no  point,  and  there  is  no  indication  that  it  ever  had  one.  One  edge 
is  serrated,  and  "is  quite  sharp,  but  from  this  [serration]  the  bone 
rapidly  increases  to  one-third  of  an  inch  in  thickness,  so  as  to  render 
it  wholly  unsuitable  to  be  used  as  a  saw.  From  Eagle  Hill." 

Figs.  210  and  211  represent  implements  that  are  quite  like  the  bone 
"sewing-awls"  figured  by  Mr.  Dall,70  in  the  volume  already  quoted. 


FIGS.  208  and  209.  —  Mass.    -j. 


FIGS.  210,  2ioa.  and  211. —  Mass. 


These  specimens  "are  flat,  scraped  very  thin,  as  seen  in  fig.  2100. 
One  of  these  is  made  from  the  bone  of  a  bird.     From  Eagle  Hill." 

The  implements  here  described  will  probably  cover  the  range  of 
patterns  in  common  use  among  the  Indians,  who  formed  the  shell- 
heaps  along  the  entire  Atlantic  coast,  as  even  the  forms  of  bone  imple 
ments  from  the  fresh  water  shellheaps  of  Florida71  do  not  vary  in  any 
important  particular. 


70  Dall,  /.  c.,  plate  opposite  p.  79. 

71  Wyman.     Fresh-Water  Shell  Mounds  of  Florida,  p.  51 ;  plates  3  and  4.     Salem,  Mass.,  1875. 


CHAPTER    XVI. 


AGRICULTURAL  IMPLEMENTS. 


ALTHOUGH  the  method  of  cultivating  maize,  the  plant  most  inti 
mately  associated  with  the  native  races  of  America,  was  practically  the 
same,  there  yet  appears  to  be  a  considerable  difference  in  the  patterns 
of  the  implements,  used  in  preparing  the  soil  for  the  seed,  and  in 
its  subsequent  care  and  culture. 

Over  a  limited  extent  of  western  territory,  chipped  flint  hoes  of  a 
peculiar  pattern  are  frequently  met  with.  They  are  broad  blades,  with 
deep,  lateral  notches,  near  one  end,  by  which  they  can  be  readily 
fastened  to  a  wooden  handle.  Of  these,  it  has  been  remarked  by 
Dr.  Rau,72  who  first  described  them,  that  "  if  the  shape  of  the  described 
implements  (shovels  and  hoes)  did  not  indicate  their  original  use,  the 
peculiar  traces  of  wear  which  they  exhibit  would  furnish  almost  con 
clusive  evidence  of  the  manner  in  which  they  have  been  employed ; 
for  that  part  with  which  the  digging  was  done  appears,  notwithstanding 
the  hardness  of  the  material,  perfectly  smooth,  as  if  glazed,  and  slightly 
striated  in  the  direction  in  which  the  implement  penetrated  the 
ground." 

This  form  is  not  found  in  New  Jersey,  but  its  place  is  taken  by  a 
"pecked"  and  grooved  implement,  in  many  respects  similar  to  the 
gouges,  already  described.  That  they  were  ever  very  numerous  is 
doubtful,  as  comparatively  few  have  been  found ;  but  their  widespread 
use  is  indicated  by  their  occurrence  throughout  the  middle  and 
southern  states.73  They  have  been  found  in  Connecticut,  and  are 
described  among  the  implements  met  with  in  Georgia. 

72  Rau.     Smithson.  Annual  Report  for  1868,  p.  379,  fig.  i.     Washington,  D.  C. 
73 Jones.     Antiquities  of  Southern  Indians,  p.  301,  pi.  xvii,  fig.  i.     New  York,  1873. 

(217) 


2l8  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

Implements  known  as  "hoes,"  both  of  stone  and  elk-horn,  not 
altogether  unlike  these  in  the  more  important  features,  have  been 
figured  and  described  by  Professor  Nilsson.74  They  differ  principally 
from  the  New  Jersey  specimens  in  being  perforated  for  the  insertion 
of  a  handle.  Of  the  use  of  such  "hoes,"  Professor  Nilsson  says,  "It 
must  be  acknowledged  that  if  agriculture,  as  seems  most  probable, 
consisted  originally  in  burning  tracts  of  forest,  and  then  sowing  among 
the  ashes,  these  rude  hoes  must  have  been  very  suitable  for  such 
operations." 

Hoe-like  implements,  however,  even  those  used  by  the  Atlantic 
coast  Indians,  were  not  always  of  this  pattern.  In  numerous  references 
to  the  cultivation  of  maize,  in  the  early  histories,  mention  is  made  of 
bone  implements,  and  of  certain  bones,  which  were  thus  used  without 
alteration. 

Of  the  Delaware  and  Iroquois  Indians  Loskiel75  mentions  that 
"  they  used  formerly  the  shoulderblade  of  a  deer,  or  a  tortoise-shell 
sharpened  upon  a  stone,  and  fastened  to  a  thick  stick,  instead  of  a 
hoe;"  and  we  readily  see,  on  comparing  such  "hoes"  with  those  of 
stone,  here  figured,  that  the  latter  are  fully  capable  of  doing  the  same 
work,  and  of  doing  it  well. 

A  second  class  of  agricultural  implements,  common  in  the 
west  and  south,  but  of  rare  occurrence  in  New  Jersey  and  almost 
unknown  in  New  England,  are  known  as  "spades."  They  are 
"oval  plates  of  flint,  flat  on  one  side  and  slightly  convex  on  the 
other,  the  outline  being  chipped  into  a  sharp  edge."  These  im 
plements  are  of  such  a  marked  character  that  they  never  can 
be  mistaken  for  any  other  form.  The  convex  "backs"  of  these 
flint  spades,  and  their  large  size  and  thickness,  make  them  a  very 
distinct  and  well-designed  implement.  As  they  are  generally 
marked  by  fine  striae,  and  often  polished  as  if  by  digging  in  loose 
soil,  their  use  as  spades  seems  to  be  beyond  doubt.  Very  often 


74  Nilsson.     Stone  Age  in  Scandinavia,  p.  74,  pi.  viii,  figs.  180  and  181.     London, 

75  Loskiel.     Mission  to  N.  A.  Indians,  p.  66.     London,  1794. 


AGRICULTURAL   IMPLEMENTS. 


2I9 


objects  are  found  associated  with  these  true  spades,  which  bear 
a  general  resemblance  to  them,  and  hence  have  been  improp 
erly  classed  with  them.  That  all  the  large,  disk-shaped  and 
oval  chipped  jasper  implements  were  spades  or  even  hoe-blades, 
is  not  probable.  What  they  really  were  will,  in  all  probability, 
never  be  known. 

The  agricultural  implements  found  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard,  about 
which  there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt,  are  hoes  and  spades,  of 
certain  well-defined  shapes.  Of  greater  abundance  than  these,  is  a 
series  of  slate  implements,  that  may  or 
may^not  be  hoe-blades.  There  are  many 
reasons  for  considering  these  latter  as 
agricultural  implements  of  the  character 
named,  and  yet  if  they  are  so,  there  is  no 
reason  why  the  jasper  specimens  of  the 
same  size  and  shape  should  not  be  in 
cluded  in  the  same  class.  To  call  one  an 
agricultural  implement  and  the  other  some 
thing  else  is  certainly  unwarranted. 

Fig.  212  represents  an  average  specimen 
of  these  long,  slender,  fine-edged  slates, 
which  we  have  designated  lance-heads. 
They  vary  little  from  five  to  seven  and 
one-half  inches  in  length  by  from  two  to 
three  and  one-half  inches  in  width ;  the 
longer  specimens  are  usually  the  more 
slender  ones,  suggesting  the  possibility  of 
the  broader  and  shorter  specimens  having  had  a  different  use  from  the 
others.  Of  course,  the  same  degree  of  probability  obtains  in  this  case, 
as  in  all  others,  that  a  difference  in  size,  and  slight  variation  in  outline, 
may  be  indicative  of  different  purposes.  From  the  very  nature  of  the 
case,  it  is  obviously  impossible  to  do  more  than  conjecture,  and  wild 
guesses  are  neither  scientific  nor  commendable. 


FIG.  212. — New  Jersey.     5. 


22O  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

Of  a  series  of  fifty-eight  of  these  possible  hoe-blades,76  about 
twenty-five  are  made  of  argillite,  and  in  their  weathered  surfaces,  have 
all  the  appearance  of  age  that  characterizes  the  true  palaeolithic  im 
plements.  The  others  are  of  slate  and  slate-like  material,  and  the 
surface  appears  as  if  comparatively  freshly  chipped.  In  size,  they 
vary  from  four  and  one-half  to  seven  inches  in  length,  by  two  and 
one-half  to  three  inches  in  greatest  width.  One  half  of  them  have 
distinctly  straight  bases,  and  are  obtusely  pointed  at  the  opposite  end. 
In  but  one  instance  is  there  a  really  sharp  point.  While  in  some 
specimens  there  has  been  a  wearing  away  of  the  pointed  end,  the 
general  appearance  of  a  large  series  gives  the  impression  that  the 
points  were  never  sufficiently  sharp,  to  have  been  used  as  a  lance  or 
spearpoint.  A  few  specimens  are  the  same  at  each  end,  and  look  as 
if  they  had  been  originally  chipped  in  this  shape.  An  interesting 
feature  is  seen  in  the  well-defined  notch  that  is  found  only  on  one 
side.  This  occurs  in  fully  twenty  per  cent,  of  all  found.  In  some  speci 
mens,  this  single  notch  on  one  side  is  very  broad  and  deep,  measuring 
in  one  example  half  an  inch  in  depth,  and  an  inch  in  width.  This  is, 
of  course,  exceptional,  but  from  one  of  this  size  there  is  a  gradation 
down  to  the  slight,  but  readily  discernible  notch,  an  eighth  of  an  inch 
deep.  That  these  were  in  some  way  utilized  in  fastening  the  imple 
ment  to  a  handle  is  probable. 

Chipped  slate  implements  of  this  pattern  are  found  scattered  along 
the  whole  Atlantic  seaboard,  but  in  varying  numbers,  in  the  several 
states.  As  they  are  found  singly  more  frequently  than  the  jasper 
implements  of  the  same  general  pattern,  it  would  appear  as  if  they 
outnumbered  the  latter ;  but  if  we  take  into  consideration  the  great 


76  In  the  museum  of  the  Academy  of  Science,  at  Salem,  Mass.,  is  a  large  series  of  these 
objects,  all  gathered  from  a  few  adjoining  fields.  So  numerous  were  they,  and  being  found  asso 
ciated  with  an  even  greater  number  of  fragments,  it  was  supposed  that  they  were  weapons,  possibly 
used  and  broken,  here,  in  some  great  battle.  The  supposition  that  they  are  lance-heads,  and  in 
dicative,  Through  their  numbers,  of  a  battle  field,  is  now  believed  to  be  an  error.  (See  Smithso 
nian  Annual  Report,  1875,  p.  269). 


AGRICULTURAL   IMPLEMENTS.  221 

numbers  of  the  jasper  specimens  found  in  "deposits,"  they  really  are 
less  abundant. 

A  few  facts  that  seem  to  have  some  bearing  upon  the  question  of 
the  use  of  these  slate  implements  will  now  be  briefly  mentioned. 
There  are  still  to  be  seen,  in  various  parts  of  New  Jersey,  certain 
barren,  weed-grown  tracts,  or  "clearings,"  as  they  are  called,  if  still 
surrounded  by  a  forest  growth,  known  as  old  Indian  fields.  At  the 
time  of  the  settlement  of  the  country  by  the  Europeans,  these  tracts 
were  under  native  cultivation.  In  many,  the  cropping  seems  to  have 
been  so  persistent,  year  after  year,  that  the  fertility  of  the  soil  was 
finally  exhausted ;  and  to  this  day,  it  shows  the  ill  effects  of  improper 
treatment.  On  such  spots,  there  are  found  a  larger  number  of  these 
rude  " hoe-blades"  than  elsewhere  ;  and  associated  with  them,  are  the 
true  hoes,  which  will  be  subsequently  described.  It  must  not,  of 
course,  be  understood  that  these  implements  are  really  rare  in  localities 
where  maize  could  not  have  been  cultivated.  Such  is  not  the  case. 
All  agricultural  tools  of  native  make  are  found  in  essentially  un- 
agricultural  localities.  Their  abundance  on  these  old  Indian  fields  is 
certainly  suggestive,  although  why  they  should  have  been  mostly  left 
in  the  corn-fields  does  not  appear. 

If  it  were  true  that  these  slate  implements  are  "hoe-blades,"  ought 
we  not  to  find  upon  them  the  peculiar  scratches  that  are  supposed  to 
mark  all  agricultural  implements  that  have  been  used  ?  The  unques 
tioned  hoes,  and  the  "spades"  that  are  found  in  New  Jersey  do 
present  these  traces  of  use  ;  though  the  jasper  implements,  such  as 
figs.  184  and  185,  never  do.  The  few  flint  spades  we  possess  of  the 
western  form  show  them,  and  so,  too,  does  a  small  proportion  of  the 
slate  hoes.  On  the  others  it  is  believed  that  they  have  been  obliterated 
by  the  weathering  of  two  centuries.  Occasionally,  also,  there  occurs 
a  specimen  which  is  chipped  flat  upon  the  under  side,  convex  upon 
the  upper,  and  with  a  slight  curve  extending  the  whole  length  of  the 
implement.  These  invariably  have  a  single  notch  upon  one  side.  In 
such  specimens,  we  have  a  "link"  between  the  western  flint  spades 


222 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 


as  described  by  Dr.  Rau,77  and  the  "hoe-blades"  found  in  such  great 
abundance  in  New  Jersey.  No  similar  implement  of  jasper  has  as 
yet  been  found. 

Fig.  213  represents78  an  excellent  average  specimen  of  a  hoe,  such 
as  is  found  in  New  Jersey.  It  has  been  "pecked"  into  shape,  and 
subsequently  ground  until  nearly  all  trace  of  the  original  pecking  has 
been  obliterated.  The  outer  or  upper  surface  (that  shown  in  the 
illustration)  is  ridged,  the  height  decreasing  as  it  approaches  the  edge 

of  the  implement,  thus  making  the  greatest 
thickness  at  the  head,  where  it  measures 
an  inch  and  a  half.  This  head,  oval  in 
shape,  is  separated  from  the  blade  of  the 
implement  by  two  deep  grooves  or  notches, 
which  do  not  extend  over  any  portion  of 
the  under  surface,  and  scarcely  meet  upon 
the  upper.  This  specimen  now  measures 
five  and  one-fourth  inches  in  length,  by  a 
little  over  two  and  one-half  inches  in  width. 
It  evidently  was  originally  much  longer,  and 
has  been  worn  away  by  long  continued  use. 
The  fact  that  these  hoes  generally  show 
such  evident  marks  of  use,  and  that  the 
supposed  "hoe-blades"  do  not,  may  be 
explained  on  the  supposition  that  the  latter 
do  not  possess  the  strength  and  durability . 
of  the  former,  and  readily  break  when  smartly  struck  upon  a  stone. 
They  would  probably  be  broken  long  before  they  would  become 
striated,  and  worn  by  use.  Probably  the  enormous  number  of  halves 
of  these  blades,  found  scattered  over  small  areas,  is  due  to  this  cause. 


FIG.  213.  —  New  Jersey. 


77  Rau.     Smithsonian  Annual  Report  for  1868,  p.  379. 

78  The  illustration  is  defective  in  the  representation  of  these  short  lateral,  and  partially  dorsal 
grooves. 


AGRICULTURAL   IMPLEMENTS. 


223 


From  experiments  made  with  these  blades  as  they  now  are,  it  is 
probable  that  a  new  lot  would  have  to  be  made  at  every  seedtime. 

Fig.  214  represents  a  second  example  of  these  heavy  stone  hoes, 
This  specimen,  like  the  preceding  one,  was  originally  much  longer, 
but  seems  to  have  been 
worn  down  so  much,  that 
it  was  probably  dis 
carded.  In  one  particu 
lar,  it  varies  from  the 
preceding:  the  under 
side  is  concave,  while 
in  fig.  213  it  is  flat. 
This  curvature  of  the 
blade  might  be  supposed 
to  indicate  that  imple 
ments  of  this  character 
were  really  gouges,  and 
as  such  referable  to  the 
class  of  objects  described 
in  Chapter  III ;  but  the 
presence  of  the  strise  and 
the  general  appearance 
of  the  surface,  show 
clearly  that,  like  the  pre 
ceding,  this  specimen 
also  is  a  hoe. 

Fig.  215  represents  a 
stone  spade,  such  as  is 
found  in  considerable  FIG.  a«4.-New  >«*.  |. 

numbers  in  Mercer  Co.,  New  Jersey,  but  which  is  not  known  in  other 
localities.  These  spades  are  all  of  the  general  shape  and  character  of 
chipping  shown  in  fig.  215,  which  sufficiently  explains  itself.  All  of 
those  collected  show  distinctly  the  striae,  and  polish  amounting,  in 
some,  to  a  glaze,  which  characterize  the  western  spades,  of  an  elongated 


224 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


oval,  or   quadrangular  outline.     The   material  of  which  these   New 


FIG,  215.  —  New  Jersey,    •}•« 


AGRICULTURAL   IMPLEMENTS.  225 

Jersey  spades  are  made  varies,  but  none  are  of  jasper.  Slate,  argillite, 
and  other  material  of  this  character,  have  been  used.  While  the 
narrowed  "handle,"  and  broad  blade  are  well-marked  features  in  all 
these  specimens,  they  merge  into  each  other,  and  are  not  distinctly 
separate,  as  in  the  spade-like  implement  figured  by  Col.  C.  C.  Jones.79 
In  some,  however,  the  junction  of  the  two  portions  is  more  abrupt  than 
in  the  specimen  figured. 

All  of  these  chipped  spades  were  found  on  a  limited  area  of  some 
three  or  four  hundred  acres ;  and  were  associated  with  the  supposed 
"hoe-blades"  and  the  grooved  hoes,  previously  described.  It  is 
possible  that  they  may  be  a  local  form,  but  the  pattern  is  so  simple  in 
design,  and  so  well  adapted  for  digging  in  loose,  sandy  soils,  that 
similar  objects  may  be  confidently  looked  for  in  other  localities. 

When  the  extent  to  which  maize  was  raised  is  considered,  it  is 
evident,  that  even  with  the  supposed  "hoe-blades,"  the  number  of 
stone  agricultural  implements  is  too  small  to  have  met  the  requirements 
of  that  cultivation,  and  hence  it  is  more  than  probable,  that  the  hoes 
made  of  the  shoulderblades  of  deer,  and  of  tortoise  shell,  mentioned 
by  several  early  writers,  greatly  outnumbered  those  of  stone. 


7*  Jones.     Antiquities  of  the  Southern  Indians,  p.  302,  plate  xvii,  fig.  2.     New  York,  1873. 

15 


UNIVERSITY 


CHAPTER     XVII 


PLUMMETS. 

As  has  been  done  in  previous  chapters,  a  series  of  objects,  uniform 
in  the  more  characteristic  features,  but  infinitely  varied  in  minor  details, 
have  been  grouped  together  under  one  title.  While  the  general  name 
given  to  the  group  is  convenient,  and  in  a  measure  descriptive  of  their 
appearance,  it  has  but  little  reference  to  their  uses.  It  has  been  re 
marked,80  that  "their  principal  use  *  *  *  *  as  'plummets'  maybe 
*  *  *  *  questioned,  as  there  are  far  too  many  of  them  found,  and  of 
too  great  a  variation  in  size,  to  lead  us  to  infer  that  they  were  used 
mainly  for  that  purpose.  Though  if  it  were  necessary,  in  ancient  ar 
chitecture,  to  establish  a  perpendicular  line,  the  implements  were  at 
hand,  as  'weights'  with  lines  attached."  The  same  author  has  also 
remarked  of  these  plummets,  that  they  "are  of  quite  common  occur 
rence  in  the  vicinity  of  Salem,  Mass.,"  and  there  are  "in  the  collection 
of  the  Peabody  Academy  of  Science,  a  large  number  of  specimens 
varying  in  size  from  an  ounce  or  two  to  several  pounds  in  weight,  but 
all  made  on  the  general  pear-shaped  pattern,  though  they  exhibit 
about  as  many  modifications  within  that  shape  as  are  shown  by  the 
hundreds  of  varieties  of  the  pear  itself.  Local  archaeologists  in  New 
England  generally  consider  them  as  'sinkers,'  from  their  shape  and 
from  the  fact  that  they  are  more  often  found  along  the  seashore  than 
in  the  interior." 

"The  very  large  size  of  some  specimens  would  perhaps  indicate 
some  different  use  from  any  proposed"  for  the  western  specimens, 
which,  as  a  whole,  are  smaller.  "  In  fact,  some  of  them  run  so  decid- 

80 Putnam.     American  Naturalist,  vol.  vi,  p.  649,  foot-notes.     Salem,  Mass.,  1872. 

(227) 


22< 


PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 


edly  into  the  class  of  'pestles/  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  draw  the 
line  between  the  two,  though  the  extremes  are  well  marked.  The 
peculiar  shape  of  these  implements  has  also  caused  them  to  be  re 
garded  as  weights,  used  to  stretch  the  thread  in  spinning.  This  sup 
position  is  rendered  very  probable  by  the  fact  that  stone  weights  have 

been  used  in  spinning,  and  from  the 
statement  (made  to  me  in  conver 
sation  by  Dr.  Edward  Palmer),  that 
stones  are  still  in  use  among  the 
Indians  of  the  northwest  for  a  simi 
lar  purpose.  As  it  is  generally  ad 
mitted  that  the  moundbuilders  un 
derstood  spinning  different  kinds  of 
fibre,  and  twisting  certain  materials 
into  threads  which  they,  by  some 
process  akin  to  weaving,  subse 
quently  manufactured  into  a  kind 
of  cloth,  the  use  of  these  imple 
ments  as  weights  seems  very  proba 
ble,  and  as  household  implements 
they  would  often  be  more  or  less 
elaborately  finished  or  carved.  For 
my  own  part,  I  have  for  some  time 
considered  them  as  representing,  ac 
cording  to  size,  material,  shape 
and  finish,  either  ist,  pestles,  2nd, 
sinkers,  3rd,  spinning  weights,  or  4th, 
ornaments." 

Fig.  216  represents  a  characteristic  specimen  of  the  New  England 
plummets  of  about  the  maximum  size.  Whether  it  should  be  classed 
as  a  "pestle"  or  not,  cannot  be  readily  determined;  but  the  fact  that 
unquestionable  pestles  are  by  no  means  infrequent  in  the  same 
localities,  would  seem  to  throw  doubt  upon  their  use  as  pestles,  although 
"many  of  them  *  *  *  *  would  serve  well  for  use  as  such,  provided 


FIG.  216.  —  Massachusetts.    |. 


PLUMMETS. 


229 


grit  was  no  objection  as  a  component  of  '  Indian  cake ; '  though  the 
grit  would  be  avoided  if  such  pestles  were  used  in  wooden  mortars 
similar  to  those  in  use  by  the  early  white  settlers  in  this  country.  The 
extreme  softness  of  the  stone  of  which  these  large  pear-shaped 
implements  were  made,  combined  with  the  fact  that  they  seldom  ex 
hibit  signs  of  use  at  their  rounded  end,  was  *  *  *  *  (one)  argument 
against  their  use  as  pestles,"  but  not  the  only  one,  as  that  author  con 
sidered.81  There  does  not  seem  to  be  any 
objection  to  the  use  of  these  larger  speci 
mens  as  sinkers,  from  the  mere  fact  of 
their  size  and  weight.  In  comparatively 
deep  waters,  or  in  strong  currents,  speci 
mens  as  heavy  as  this  would  often  be 
required.  Bearing  on  the  subject  of  their 
use  as  pestles,  however,  it  should  be  stated 
that  there  is  a  specimen  in  the  Salem 
collection  that  is  said  to  have  been  found 
in  a  stone  mortar,  and  another  in  the 
cabinet  of  the  Amesbury  Nat.  History 
Society.  Fig.  216  was  found  near  Ames- 
bury,  Mass. 

Fig.  217  represents  a  much  smaller 
specimen  of  a  plummet,  which  was  prob 
ably  used  as  a  sinker  for  a  fishing  line ; 
at  least,  it  is  well  adapted  for  this  purpose. 
The  original  was  long  ago  described  and 


FIG.  217.— Maine.    \, 


figured  by  Schoolcraft,  as  "a  fisherman's  sinker,  of  the  Penacook 
tribe,  accurately  wrought  in  stone."  Objects  of  this  size  are  not 
confined  to  fishing  stations,  however,  and  it  is  quite  as  possible,  that 
similar  specimens  had  different  uses  in  different  localities.  Of  a  very 
large  series  of  these  plummets  in  the  collections  of  the  Museum  at 
Cambridge,  Mass.,  but  few  are  highly  polished  and  possessed  of  that 


Putnam.     Bulletin  of  Essex  Institute,  vol.  v,  June,  1873.     Salem,  Mass. 


230 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 


accuracy  of  outline  so  characteristic  of  many  found  in  Ohio  and  other 
western  states.  Of  the  larger  examples  found  so  frequently  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Salem,  Mass.,  a  large  majority  are  merely  pecked 
into  shape  and  have  no  other  finish.  These  have  an  added  interest, 
from  the  fact  that  in  the  same  neighborhood,  are  found  in  like  pro 
fusion,  the  stone  gouges  that  are  supposed  to  have  been  principally 
used  in  making  the  "dug-out"  canoes.  If  such  was  the  ordinary  use 
of  these  implements,  their  occurrence  in  unusual  numbers,  associated 
with  a  like  abundance  of  plummets,  would  certainly  seem  to  indicate 

that  the  latter  were  used  as  "sinkers," 
as  we  know  the  canoes  were  made 
more  for  fishing  purposes,  than  for  the 
mere  convenience  of  travelling  by 
water. 

Fig.  218  represents  a  still  smaller 
specimen  of  these  plummets,  which 
certainly  is  most  admirably  designed  as 
a  sinker,  for  fishing  in  comparatively 
quiet  waters.  It  does  not  weigh  so 
much,  and  is  but  little  longer  than  lead 
sinkers  that  are  now  used  in  trolling 
for  rock-fish ;  and  it  is  a  matter  of  as 
tonishment  that  such  an  admirable  im- 

FIG.  218.  —  Massachusetts,     -f.  ,  1111.  i  r         3 

plement   should   have   been   found    so 

very  seldom  in  New  Jersey.  As  in  the  southern  states,  an  occasional 
specimen,  like  fig.  2 1 8,  may  be  found ;  but  all  such  as  have  been 
examined,  purporting  to  be  from  the  valley  of  the  Delaware  river, 
are  ingenious  frauds,  copies  in  steatite  of  New  England  specimens, 
manufactured  for  "the  trade"  by  unscrupulous  dealers.  The  simpler 
form  of  the  grooved  globular  pebble  may,  in  New  Jersey,  replace  the 
plummet,  as  it  is  believed  by  Col.  C.  C.  Jones,82  to  do,  in  Georgia. 
That  author  groups  notched  and  perforated  pebbles,  and  grooved 


82  Jones.     Antiquities  of  Southern  Indians,  p.  339,  pi-  xix,  fig.  12.     New  York,  1873. 


PLUMMETS. 


23I 


globular  pebbles  as  alike,  sinkers,  and  figures  a  rudely  fashioned 
plummet,  which  is  of  rare  occurrence,  and  suggests  that  it  was 
"  employed  to  weight  the  hand-line 
in  fishing  with  a  hook." 

Fig.  219  represents  a  plummet- 
shaped  implement,  four  and  one- 
half  inches  in  length,  and  one  inch 
and  three-quarters  in  its  greatest 
breadth.  The  material  is  a  very 
fine-grained  sandstone,  and  the 
whole  surface  has  been  worked 
down,  until  its  smoothness  almost 
amounts  to  a  polish. 

While  the  resemblance  of  this 
specimen  to  the  common  forms  of 
plummets  is  marked,  it  varies  from 
all  the  New  England  specimens 
that  have  been  examined,  in  not 
having  a  groove  near  the  upper  or 
smaller  end,  for  its  suspension. 
This,  however,  does  not  indicate 
that  the  purpose  of  the  implement 
may  not  have  been  one  of  the 
several  suggested  by  Professor 
Putnam,  on  page  228.  Plummets 
of  both  stone  and  hematite  are 
frequently  found  in  Ohio.  Whether 
used  as  plummets,  sinkers,  or  or 
naments,  this  want  of  a  groove  or 

other  means  of  fastening  it  to  a  cord,  renders  the  object  of  the  Ohio 
specimens,  as  well  as  of  fig.  219,  a  difficult  matter  to  determine.  Mr. 
Henderson,83  from  whose  interesting  account  of  plummets,  much 


FIG.  219.  —  New  Jersey. 


88  Henderson.     American  Naturalist,  vol.  vi,  p.  644,  figs.  132-138.     Salem,  Mass.,  1872. 


232 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


information  has  been  derived,  considers  the  grooves  upon  such  speci 
mens  even  as  figs.  220  and  221,  too  small  to  have  insured  a  secure 
attachment  to  a  fishing  -line. 

We  are  therefore  quite  in  the  dark  as  to  the  precise  belongings  of 
this  New  Jersey  specimen,  as  it,  like  so  many  objects  that  are  found  of 
Indian  make,  is  so  unlike  anything  in  use  at  the  present  time,  that  it 
is  quite  impossible  to  identify  it. 

As  an  interesting  instance  of  the  identity  of  form  of  certain  patterns 


FIGS.  220  and  221.  —  Illinois.     \-, 

of  stone  implements  that  are  found  in  all  parts  of  the  country,  and 
used  by  people  as  dissimilar  in  their  modes  of  life  as  the  native  races 
of  the  Pacific  and  of  the  Atlantic  coasts,  and  also  the  moundbuilders, 
of  whom  it  may  be  said  that  their  separate  origin  and  distinct  racial 
characteristics  have  not  yet  been  proven,  notwithstanding  the  laborious 
investigations  of  many  laborers  in  American  archaeology,  and  the 


PLUMMETS. 


233 


ingenious  theorizing  that  swells  the  pages  of  so  many  volumes  ;  illus 
trations  of  a  series  of  the  western  forms  are  here  introduced  which, 
while  made  of  many  different  materials,  are  practically  the  same  as 
the  specimens  from  Maine  and  Massachusetts,  figs.  217  and  2i8.84 

Fig.  220  "represents  what  maybe  styled  the  typical  form  of  these  im 
plements.  It  is  made  of  iron  ore,  ground  down  and  polished,  until  it  is 
almost  as  smooth  as  glass."  It  is  one  of  eight  found  near  Quincy,  Illinois, 
embedded  in  solid  clay. 

Fig.  221  represents  a 
second  example,  and 
varies  from  the  preced 
ing,  in  being  much 
broader  at  its  widest 
part.  This  specimen  is 
also  from  Illinois  ;  and 
is  "made  of  a  whitish 
limestone  containing 
numerous  small  joints 
of  crinoids." 

Fig.  222  represents 
a  much  smaller  speci 
men,  of  the  same  class 

r  .         ,  j  •        r          FIG.  222.  —  Ohio.    4.  FIG.  223.  —  Illinois. 

of  implements,  and  is  of 
unusual  interest  from  the  fact  that  it  was  found  at  a  depth  of  "sixteen 
feet  below  the  surface  of  the  earth."  "It  is  made  of  green  stone. 
With  it  were  found  a  small  stone  scraper  and  a  stone  disk." 

Fig.  223  represents  still  another,  made  of  copper.  "It  is  com 
posed  of  small  pieces  of  native  copper  pounded  together ;  and  in  the 
cracks  between  the  pieces,  are  stuck  several  pieces  of  silver,  one 
nearly  the  size  of  a  half  dime."85  This  specimen  is  from  a  mound 
near  Marietta,  Ohio. 


84  Henderson,  /.  c.,  pp.  642-649. 

85Squier.     Aboriginal  Monuments  of  New  York,  p.  187.     Washington,  D.  C.    1856   (Smith 
sonian  Contributions  to  Knowledge,  vol.  ii). 


234 


PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 


Considering  the  small  size  of  some  of  these  specimens,  particularly 
fig.  222,  it  may  be  thought  that  the  small  trinkets,  or  cylindrical  pebbles 
with  an  encircling  groove,  described  in  Chapter  XXVII,  belong  to  the 
same  class.  They  certainly  approach  very  near  to  them,  though  they 
are  so  small  that  they  would  be  nearly  worthless  as  sinkers.  This, 
however,  is  not  true  of  fig.  222,  which  is  probably  a  sinker  of  the 
minimum  size. 

While  plummets,  as  a  class,  seem  to  have  been  polished  and  sym- 


FIGS.  224  and  225.  —  Illinois.    -[• 

metrically  shaped,  they  were  not  generally  ornamented  in  any  other 
manner.  Figs.  224  and  225,  however,  represent  one  of  a  small  series, 
that  is  a  marked  exception  in  this  respect.  This  specimen  has  already 
been  described  and  figured  by  Mr.  Henderson,  and  the  illustrations, 
as  well  as  several  of  the  preceding,  are  those  given  in  his  valuable 


PLUMMETS.  235 

paper,  already  referred  to.  Fig.  224  is  made  of  dark  limestone,  and 
the  top  of  the  implement  has  been  carved  to  represent  an  Indian's 
head.  The  carving  is  successful  certainly,  so  far  as  "presenting  the 
characteristic  features  of  the  Red  Indian."  "The  streaks  of  black 
paint  above  and  below  the  eyes,  the  black  eye-balls  and  scalp-lock, 
give  it  a  hideous  appearance  which,  perhaps,  caused  it  to  be  looked 
upon  with  reverential  awe  by  its  superstitious  aboriginal  owner."  "A 
glance  at  fig.  225,  which  is  a  back  view  of  fig.  224,  shows  that  the 
primitive  artist  preserved,  as  far  as  his  design  would  admit,  the  general 
plummet  form  shown  in  the  other  implements  figured,  while  the  slight 
groove  around  the  small  end  shows  plainly  that  it  was  to  be  suspended 
by  a  string,  and  I  think  fully  warrants  the  conclusion  that  this  imple 
ment  is  but  a  modification  of  the  plummet." 

There  is  in  this  carved  specimen  an  instance  of  that  taste  for 
realistic  carvings,  which  is  more  artistically  exhibited  on  some  of  the 
New  England  pestles,  than  on  this  plummet ;  and  considering  also  that 
"the  characteristic  features  of  the  Red  Indian"  are  shown  on  this 
plummet,  it  is  evident  that  the  Indians  used  and  made  a  large  number 
of  these  implements  in  the  west,  as  well  as  along  the  Atlantic  seaboard. 
If  it  could  be  shown  that  this  carving  on  fig.  224  was  the  handiwork 
of  the  moundbuilders,  then  why  have  we  not  an  indication  that  they 
and  the  Indians  were  closely  related  ?  Certainly  there  is  little  that  is 
peculiar  in  the  representations  of  the  human  face,  as  exhibited  on 
stone  carvings  taken  from  mounds ;  and  in  that  little,  there  is  a 
resemblance  to  the  later  ( ?)  Red  Indian.  Until  the  origin  of  the 
known  races  of  North  America  is  unquestionably  determined,  it  will 
clearly  be  unsafe  to  designate  this  or  that  implement  as  the  production 
of  another  people,  of  a  supposed  different  origin. 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 


NET-SINKERS. 


AMONG  the  many  familiar  forms  of  primitive  stone  implements 
common  to  the  valleys  of  the  Delaware  and  Susquehanna  rivers,  are 
those  small,  flat,  notched  pebbles,  usually  nearly  square,  but  not  unfre- 
quently  of  the  most  irregular  shapes,  which  are  universally  known  as 
net-sinkers.  The  fact  that  the  use  implied  by  this  name  is  suggested 
at  once  by  the  very  appearance  of  this  implement  is  not  perhaps  a 
safe  guide  in  determining  such  questions,  although,  in  this  case,  it  is 
almost  certainly  true.  If  used  as  net-sinkers,  then,  it  is  evident,  that 
occasionally  a  series  of  these  objects  should  be  found  together,  as 
numbers  of  them,  placed  at  short  distances  along  the  lower  margin  of 
the  net  would  be  required  to  keep  it  in  place  when  in  the  water.  If 
they  could  be  found  so  situated,  that  their  position  was  evidence 
that  they  had  been  attached  to  a  single  net,  all  doubt  as  to  this 
form  of  fishing  tackle  having  been  used  by  the  Indians  would  be 
dispelled,  even  though  they  alone  remained  to  testify  to  the  fact. 
While  no  direct  reference  to  nets  is  made  by  Holm,86  in  his  history  of 
the  Delaware  Indians,  he  does  allude  to  other  productions  of  a  char 
acter  that,  at  least,  renders  the  weaving  of  a  net  a  probability.  In 
detailing  the  several  duties  of  the  women,  he  remarks :  "  they  make 
much  use  of  painted  feathers,  with  which  they  adorn  skins  and  bed 
covers,  binding  them  with  a  kind  of  net  work  which  is  very  handsome, 
and  fastens  the  feathers  very  well."  Attention  has  also  been  called  to 
the  fact  that  they  made  "  thread  and  yarn,  from  nettles  and  hemp." 
Peter  Kalm  also  refers  to  fishing  tackle  made  of  hempen  cord.  (See 

88  Holm,  /.  c.  p.  129. 

(237) 


238  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

p.  147.)  These  facts  are  sufficient  to  identify  the  notched  pebbles  as 
net-weights  or  sinkers,  but  other  evidence  is  not  wanting. 

In  the  summer  of  1878,  a  series  of  these  notched  pebbles  was  found 
in  the  wasting  northern  shore  of  Crosswick's  creek,  about  two  miles 
from  its  mouth,  at  Bordentown,  New  Jersey.  They  were  in  an  irreg 
ular  heap,  in  some  instances  one  just  above  the  other,  but  in  contact. 
They  were  twenty-two  inches  below  the  surface  of  the  meadow,  which 
is  composed  of  a  fine  sandy  mud,  that  has  been  slowly  accumulating, 
at  this  point,  for  centuries.  There  were  seventy-three  in  the  series, 
and  supposing  them  to  have  been  placed  at  a  distance  of  a  foot 
apart,  they  would  have  supplied  a  net  just  long  enough  to  stretch 
across  the  creek  at  this  point.  It  is  not  improbable,  however,  that 
these  notched  pebbles  were  left  long  anterior  to  the  formation  of  the 
present  channel  of  the  creek,  and  hence  are  of  a  remote  antiquity ; 
for  recent  as  are  the  alluvial  deposits  in  our  river  valleys,  some  of  them 
are  not  to  be  counted  by  scores  of  years  more  or  less.87 

"Fishing-nets  may  be  counted  among  the  utensils  invented  at  very 
early  periods,  on  the  spur  of  necessity,  by  men  in  various  parts  of  the 
world.  That  they  were  already  in  use  in  Europe  at  a  remote  antiquity 
is  proved  by  their  remnants  preserved  in  an  almost  marvellous  manner 
in  the  Swiss  pile-constructions  of  the  stone  age,  as,  for  instance,  those 
of  Robenhausen  and  Wangen.  In  the  earliest  works  on  North 
America  the  fishing-nets  of  the  Indians  are  mentioned  but  not  de 
scribed.  Cabeca  de  Vaca,88  the  first  European  who  gave  an  account 
of  the  interior  of  North  America,  refers  in  various  places,  though  in  a 
transient  manner,  to  the  nets  of  the  natives  whom  he  met  during  his 
long  wanderings.  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega89  and  the  anonymous  Portu 
guese  gentleman,  called  the  Knight  of  Elvas,  the  two  principal  authors 
who  have  left  accounts  of  De  .Soto's  expedition  (1539-43)  are  likewise 


87  Abbott.     American  Naturalist,  vol.  x,  p.  71. 

88  Relation  et  Naufrages   d'Alvar  Nunez  Cabega  de  Vaca    (Ternaux    Compans),  Paris,  1837, 
pp.  24,  142,  177,  179.     Original  printed  at  Valladolid  in  1555. 

89  Narratives  of  the  Career  of  Hernando  de  Soto,  etc.,  translated  by  Buckingham  Smith,  New 
York,  1866,  p. 112. 


NET-SINKERS.  239 

deficient  in  all  such  details  as  might  serve  to  illustrate  the  original 
character  of  Indian  nets.  The  latter  relates,  however,  that  the  Span 
iards,  while  at  a  place  near  the  Mississippi,  called  Pacaha  (Garcilasso 
has  it  'Capaha'),  caught  fish  in  a  lake  with  nets  furnished  by  the 
Indians.  This  establishes  at  least  the  fact  that  the  tribes  of  the  Mis 
sissippi  valley  employed  fishing-nets,  when  first  seen  by  Europeans. 
The  Indians  of  the  present  New  England  states  made  strong  nets  of 
hemp.  For  this  we  have  the  authority -of  Roger  Williams,90  who  gives 
also  the  word  ashop,  which  signifies  a  net  in  the  language  of  the 
Narragansetts.  Yet  it  appears  that  the  Indians  of  the  Atlantic  coast 
(and  others)  were  rather  in  the  habit  of  ' spearing'  fish  than  taking 
them  in  nets.  Some  were  also  killed  by  arrow-shots.  According  to 
Van  der  Donck,  the  Indians  in  the  neighborhood  of  New  Amsterdam 
(now  New  York)  employed,  during  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  various  kinds  of  nets ;  but  this  author  does  not  state  whether 
these  nets  were  original  Indian  inventions,  or  adopted  from  the  Dutch 
colonists.  The  Natchez,  on  the  lower  Mississippi,  made  their  nets 
from  the  bark  of  the  linden  tree,  and  knitted  them  quite  in  the 
European  fashion."  (Chas.  Rau,  in  American  Naturalist,  vol.  vii, 
pp.  145  and  146.) 

Fig.  226  represents  an  ordinary  specimen,  such  as  occurs  by  the 
hundreds  in  the  valley  of  every  creek,  and  along  the  river  shores,  in 
New  Jersey,  and  other  eastern  states. 

Beyond  determining  their  use,  there  is  nothing  in  their  variety, 
shape,  or  method  of  manufacture,  but  is  so  simple  and  evident,  that 
there  is  little  interest  attached  to  them ;  unless  it  be  to  wonder  why  it 
was,  if  these  primitive  sinkers  were  used  in  the  manner  described,  as 
their  numbers  and  circumstances  under  which  many  are  found  cer- 

90  Roger  Williams.  A  Key  into  the  Language  of  America,  London,  1643;  Providence,  R.  I., 
1827,  p.  102.  The  practice  likewise  prevailed  of  erecting  in  the  water  large  labyrinth-like  enclo 
sures  of  lattice-work,  flanked  by  long  weirs,  the  whole  forming  a  sort  of  gigantic  trap,  into  which 
the  fish  were  driven.  Such  a  contrivance  of  the  Virginia  Indians  is  figured  and  described  in  the 
first  volume  of  De  Bry's  "  Peregrinationes  "  (Frankfort  on  the  Main,  1590). 

Beschryvinge  Van  Nieuw-Nederlandt.     Amsterdam,  1656,  p.  70. 

Du  Pratz.     Histpire  de  la  Louisiane.     Paris,  1758,  vol.  ii,  p.  179. 


240 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


tainly  indicate  was  the  case,  that  so  carefully  wrought  an  implement  as 
the  "plummet"  of  New  England,  should  have  been  used  for  the  same 

purpose.  If  they 
were  used  only  as 
sinkers  for  fishing 
lines,  it  is  not  a 
matter  of  surprise ; 
but  certainly  if 
these  small  fl  a  t 
pebbles  were  all 
that  were  required 
to  weight  the  nets 
used  in  the  rivers, 
,  then  larger  pebbles 

FIG.  226.  —  New  Jersey.    -J-. 

of  the  same  shape 

would  have  answered  the  needs  of  the  fishermen  of  the  New  England 
coast  just  as  well,  and  it  is 
strange  that  so  simple  a  form 
of  weight  should  not  have 
been  used,  if  indeed,  it  was 
not. 

Figs.  227  and  228  represent 
examples  of  these  sinkers  from 
the  shores  of  the  Susquehanna 
river.  They  are  of  the  same 
pattern  as  those  found  in  all 
other  river  valleys  of  that  re 
gion ;  as  a  class,  however, 
those  found  in  the  Susque- 


FIG.  227.  — Pennsylvania.    •}-. 


hanna  valley  are  somewhat 
larger  than  those  of  the  Dela 
ware.  Dr.  Rau91  writes  of  the  specimens,  above  figured,  "the  material 


81  Rau.     American  Naturalist,  vol.  vii,  p.  140,  figs.  30  and  31. 


NET-SINKERS.  24! 

is  almost  exclusively  a  flat-breaking,  silico-argillaceous  stone  of  gray 
or  brownish  color,  sometimes  containing  diminutive  particles  of  mica, 
and  consequently  bearing  the  distinct  character  of  graywacke." 

The  net-sinkers  found  in  the  Delaware  valley  are  made  of  every 
sort  of  stone,  and  even  thin  pieces  of  coral  rock  have  been  utilized. 
Some  are  even  halves  of  "hoe-blades."  No  one  form  of  implement 
presents  a  much  greater  range  of  minerals,  than  these  sinkers,  although 
the  majority  are  made  of  flat  river  pebbles  of  sandstone. 

Fig.  229  represents  an  average  specimen  of  net-sinker  from  the 
shores  of  the  Delaware  river.  But  few  are  of  this  pointed  shape, 
however,  and  a  great  many  do  not  have  the  notches  so  deeply  cut. 

Not  all  of  these  notched  pebbles 
need  necessarily  be  classed  as  net- 
sinkers,  in  the  ordinary  acceptation 
of  that  term.  Some  are  found  that 
are  too  cumbersome  to  have  been 
used  in  that  way,  but  were  probably 
anchors  or  set-weights  for  fishing 
apparatus  of  a  different  kind.  In 
June,  1879,  while  relic  hunting  in 
the  Delaware  valley,  with  Prof.  F. 

W.Putnam,    of    the     Museum     at  Flc.  ^.-Pennsylvania.    |. 

Cambridge,  Mass.,  the  author  found 

a  very  large  notched  pebble  on  the  shore  of  the  river,  a  short  dis 
tance  above  the  Water  Gap,  in  Monroe  Co.,  Pennsylvania,  which, 
judging  from  the  size,  and  the  fact  of  its  having  four  notches,  was 
used  as  an  anchor  or  set-weight.  This  example  measures  eight 
inches  square,  and  weighs  nearly  five  pounds.  To  secure  a  net, 
which  was  placed  in  the  stream,  as  gilling  nets  and  fykes  are  now  set, 
such  a  weight  would  have  been  frequently  a  necessity,  especially 
where  there  was  a  swift  current,  as  there  is  in  the  river,  at  the  point 
where  this  specimen  was  found ;  but  it  is  evidently  impossible  that 
such  a  stone  could  have  been  used,  as  one  of  a  hundred  or  more,  in 
dragging  a  sweep  net  through  the  water.  Aside  from  their  weight, 
16 


242 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


stones  of  such  size  would  constantly  be  caught  by  obstructions  in  the  bed 

of  the  stream,  and  thus  render  the  free  movement  of  a  net  impracticable. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  fact  of  finding  an  implement  of  practically 

the  same  character,  but  of 
much  greater  size,  in  a 
fishing  locality,  associated 
with  hundreds  of  smaller 
ones,  suggests  that  it,  too, 
was  used  by  the  Indians, 
in  fishing,  and  is  corrobo 
rative  of  the  belief,  that 
the  smaller  specimens 
were  used  in  the  same 
manner. 

These  large  notched 
stones  may  have  been 
used  also  as  anchors. 

Large  angular  pebbles 
or  bowlders,  with  deep 
encircling  grooves,  have 
also  been  frequently  found 
in  the  Delaware  river  as 
well  as  in  many  of  the 
larger  creeks  flowing 
into  it.  These  grooved 
bowlders,  I  believe,  were 
used  also  as  anchoring 
stones. 

One  of  these  so-called 
anchors,  found  in  the  bed  of  Crosswicks  Creek,  near  Bordentown, 
New  Jersey,  is  a  compact  sandstone  bowlder,  nearly  a  cube  in  shape, 
and  weighs  forty  pounds.  The  groove  divides  the  stone  into  equal 
parts,  is  evenly  worked,  and  measures  uniformly  one  inch  in  width  and 
three-fourths  of  an  inch  in  depth. 


FIG.  229.  — New  Jersey.    {. 


NET-SINKERS.  243 

This  specimen  was  found  embedded  in  mud,  at  a  depth  of  nearly 
three  feet  from  the  present  surface.  Near  it  were  found  a  dozen 
notched  pebbles,  such  as  fig.  228,  a  grooved  stone  axe,  and  several 
fragments  of  pottery. 

The  circumstances  under  which  this  grooved  bowlder  was  found 
clearly  indicate  that  it  was  used  as  an  anchor ;  and  its  being  associated 
with  a  small  series  of  the  notched  pebbles,  described  in  the  present 
chapter,  is  as  interesting  as  it  is  suggestive.  Unlike  the  large  notched 
pebbles,  referred  to  from  the  Water  Gap,  this  specimen  could  not  have 
been  used  as  an  attachment  to  a  net ;  but  at  once  suggests  the  use  of  a 
boat,  and  as  we  know  that  these  boats  were  in  almost  daily  use,  it  is  not 
probable  that  they  were  always  drawn  from  the  water,  when  not  in  use. 
Holm92  remarks  of  the  Delaware  Indians,  that  "their  boats  are  made 
of  the  bark  of  cedar,  and  birch  trees,  bound  together  and  lashea  very 
strongly ;  they  carry  them  along  wherever  they  go ;  and  when  they 
come  to  some  creek  that  they  want  to  get  over,  they  launch  them  and 
go  whither  they  please.  They  also  used  to  make  boats  out  of  cedar 
trees  which  they  burnt  inside,  and  scraped  off  the  coals  with  sharp 
stones,  bones,  or  muscle  shells." 

Such  a  stone  "anchor,"  as  the  one  mentioned,  would  readily  hold, 
even  in  a  swift  current,  the  canoes  and  dug-outs,  Holm  describes. 

Fig.  230  represents  a  large,  oval,  flat  pebble,  with  a  perforation,  that 
has  been  drilled  with  great  accuracy.  Objects  of  this  kind,  so  far  as 
met  with  in  New  Jersey,  are  comparatively  rare,  and  their  purpose  is 
not  positively  known.  They  are  here  classed  as  sinkers,  because  the 
localities  where  most  of  them  are  found  suggest  that  they  were  used  as 
net- weights  or,  in  some  manner,  were  connected  with  the  occupation  of 
fishing.  Fig.  230,  which  is  the  largest  of  a  series  of  fourteen  speci 
mens  collected,  is  nearly  one  and  one-half  inches  in  thickness,  and 
was  found  in  a  field,  within  a  short  distance  of  a  navigable  creek,  and 
one  much  frequented  by  Indians,  even  so  lately  as  historic  times. 
The  other  thirteen  were  found  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Big 

92  Holm,  /.  c.,  p.  130. 


244  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

Timber  Creek,  Gloucester  Co.,  New  Jersey,  and  are  but  a  small  portion 


FIG.  230.  —  New  Jersey.    -f-. 

of  a  large  number  that  were  gathered  at  one  time.     All  that  have  been 


NET-SINKERS.  245 

examined  are  made  of  compact  sandstone,  and  are  very  heavy.  Most 
of  them  have  been  drilled  from  each  side,  and  the  opening,  near  the 
middle  of  the  stone,  is  much  smaller  than  the  orifice  at  the  surface. 
Fig.  230  has  probably  been  perforated  with  a  hollow  drill ;  the  sides 
of  the  perforation  being  as  even,  smooth,  and  regularly  striated,  as  the 
finest  examples  of  drilled  ceremonial  objects. 

A  number  of  these  perforated  flat  pebbles  have  been  recently  found 
on  the  shores  and  in  the  bed,  of  Lake  Hopatcong,  Morris  Co.,  New 
Jersey.  Those  that  I  have  seen  varied  in  no  essential  features  from 
fig.  230,  except  in  the  manner  of  the  drilling.  This  was  similar  to  that 
of  the  specimens  from  Gloucester  Co.,  New  Jersey. 

Col.  C.  C.  Jones93  has  figured  and  described  a  series  of  perforated 
net-sinkers,  of  which,  he  remarks,  "all  of  the  perforated  sort  that  I 
have  seen,  with  one  exception,  were  formed  either  of  soapstone  or  of 
clay.  Consisting  generally  of  flat  or  rounded  pieces  of  soapstone, 
irregular  in  shape,  they  vary  in  weight  from  scarcely  more  than  an 
ounce  to  a  pound  and  upward.  The  perforations  are  from  a  quarter 
of  an  inch  to  an  inch  in  diameter,  and  are  indifferently  located,  either 
in  the  centre  or  near  the  edge  of  the  stone." 

None  of  soapstone  have  been  noticed,  among  the  New  Jersey 
examples,  nor  any  so  small  as  those  of  but  an  ounce  in  weight. 
While  in  all  probability  used  as  net-sinkers,  the  New  Jersey  specimens 
were  doubtlessly  limited  to  particular  kinds  of  nets  or  traps. 

83  Jones,  /.  c.,  p.  337,  pi.  xix,  figs,  i  to  6  inclusive. 


CHAPTER     XIX. 


SPEARPOINTS  AND  ARROWHEADS. 


WHEN  we  come  to  examine  any  considerable  series  of  chipped  stone 
implements,  and  notice  how  varied  are  the  patterns  of  what  is  practi 
cally  the  same  object,  we  are  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  these 
several  patterns  were  designed  not  for  one,  but  for  many  purposes. 

In  the  study  of  these  varied  forms,  we  cannot  rest  content  with  the 
knowledge  that  they  are  spearpoints.  When,  where,  how  were  they 
used  ?  Have  we  no  clew  to  their  meaning  ?  The  meagre  records  of 
those  early  voyagers,  who  first  chanced  upon  our  shores,  tell  us  but 
little  more  than  the  discarded'  implements  themselves. 

Perhaps  the  efforts  to  determine  the  object  of  .various  stone  imple 
ments  by  the  character  of  the  localities  where  they  are  usually  found 
have  not  been  altogether  vain.  With  reference  to  some  of  the 
simpler  forms,  this  is  not  an  important  matter,  as  their  very  sim 
plicity  and  uniformity  bespeak  the  use,  as  in  the  notched  pebbles 
used  as  net-weights  ;  and  yet  even  here,  the  fact  that  they  are  found 
in  abundance  along  our  rivers  and  larger  creeks,  and  that  often  scores 
are  discovered  associated  together,  in  the  very  beds  of  the  streams,  is 
certainly  an  additional  assurance  that  their  purpose  is  known. 

While  the  objects  treated  of  in  the  present  chapter  are  perhaps 
without  warrant  classified  as  spearpoints  and  arrowheads,  it  is  not 
intended  to  convey  the  impression,  that  all  the  larger  specimens 
belonged  to  the  former  class,  and  that  the  entire  series  of  smaller  flints 
were  used  to  tip  the  shafts  of  arrows.  This  cannot  be  proven,  though 
the  shape,  size -and  the  relative  abundance  of  the  two  series  render  it 
evident  that  such  was  usually  the  case. 

Whether  the  one  type  or  pattern  that  is  here  considered  as  having 

(247) 


248  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

been  used  principally  for  capturing  fish  was  generally  so  used,  future 
investigation  may  possibly  determine.  At  present,  there  is  considerable 
evidence  in  favor  of  the  view  here  expressed. 

Schoolcraft94  has  referred  to  the  larger  of  these  spearpoints  as 
"Antique  javelins,  or  Indian  Shemagon  or  spear."  "Trm^ntique 
implement  was  one  of  the  most  efficacious  in  close  encounterajkfore 
the  introduction  of  iron  weapons.  A  fine  specimen  is  seven  inci 
long  and  one  and  a  half  wide  at  the  lower  end,  which  is  chipped  thin 
to  admit  the  splints  by  which  it  was  fastened  to  the  lower  end.  The 
length  of  the  pole  or  staff  could  only  be  conjectured,  and  was  probably 
five  feet.  The  chief  said,  on  presenting  it,  that  it  was  one  of  the  old 
implements  of  his  ancestors." 

When  we  consider  how  prominent  and  comparatively  abundant  are 
these  large  spearpoints  among  the  relics  of  the  Indians,  it  is  not  a 
little  strange  that  the  early  writers,  who  refer  to  the  Indians  before 
they  had  wholly  discarded  stone  implements,  or  very  soon  afterwards, 
should  so  generally  have  overlooked  this  form,  while  they  frequently 
mention  their  axes  and  arrowheads.  Neither  Holm  nor  Kalm  refer  to 
the  large  spearpoints  as  a  weapon  of  the  Delaware  Indians,  or  refer 
to  the  use  of  the  spear  or  lance,  in  describing  their  methods  of  warfare  ; 
yet  the  number  of  these  objects  found  is,  of  itself,  sufficient  to  indicate 
that,  at  one  time,  they  were  in  very  common  use.  Is  it  probable  that 
they  had  been  discarded  in  great  measure,  at  some  remote  period,  and 
were  veritable  relics  of  a  distant  past,  when  the  European  settlers  first 
reached  our  shores?  The  absence  of  direct  reference  to  these  char 
acteristic  implements  seems  indicative  of  this. 

Fig.  231  represents  a  perfect  specimen  of  what  may  be  considered 
a  typical  spearpoint.  The  chipping  is  successful,  so  far  as  preserving 
a  uniform  thickness  of  the  blade,  and  the  edges  are  straight,  and  taper 
gradually  to  the  moderately  acute  point.  The  stem  is  a  perfectly 
straight  projection  from  the  base  of  the  blade,  of  a  little  more  than 
one-half  its  width.  The  material  is  a  bluish-gray  jasper,  very  com- 

94 Schoolcraft.     Hist,  and  Cond.  of  Indian  Tribes,  pt.  i,  p.  87,  pi.  26. 


SPEARPOINTS   AND    ARROWHEADS. 


249 


monly  used  by  the  Delaware 
Indians  for  making  imple 
ments  of  this  character 
While  occasional  specimens 
of  this  .and  allied  patterns 
>oints  are  found 
are  considerably  longer' 
it  may  be  said  of  them  as 
a  class,  that  they  vary  in 
size,  from  those  that  are  as 
large  as  fig.  231  down  to 
those  that  are  on  the  boun 
dary  line  between  spear- 
points  and  arrowheads.  So 
far  as  spearpoints  occur  in 
New  Jersey,  less  than  one 
per  cent,  exceed  six  inches 
in  length,  and  of  these,  but 
very  few  exceed  that  meas 
urement  by  more  than  an 
inch. 

In  the  archaeological  col 
lections  of  the  American 
Museum  of  Natural  History, 
at  Central  Park,  New  York, 
there  is  an  example  of  large 
spearpoint,  somewhat  rudely 
chipped,  which  greatly  ex 
ceeds  in  length  any  known 
specimens  from  New  Jer 
sey,  or  the  New  England 
states.  This  spearpoint 
measures  eleven  inches  in 
length,  and  three  inches 


FIG.  231.  — New  Jersey. 


250 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 


en  jas- 


in  greatest  width.     It  has  a  notched  base  and  short  stem,  of  about 

one-half  the  width 
of  the  blade.  The 
material  of  which  it 
is  made  is 
per.  It 
near  lake 

in  New  York.  A 
somewhat  larger 
specimen,  fourteen 
inches  in  length,  is 
mentioned  by  Col. 
C.  C.  Jones,  jr.,  as 
taken  from  a  grave 
mound  in  Georgia. 
He  remarks  of  this 
unusually  large  spec 
imen,  "no  spearhead 
of  such  magnitude, 
so  far  as  my  knowl 
edge  extends,  has 
been  found  within 
the  limits  of  the 
southern  states." 

While  it  is  thus 
shown  that  spear- 
points  of  a  foot  in 
length  or  longer  do 
occasionally  occur, 
they  can  scarcely 
be  considered  as  ex- 
amples  of  such 

spears  as  were  in  common  use,  and  therefore  the  statement  of  the 
maximum  size  being  about  six  inches  is  substantially  correct. 


ific.  232.  —  New  Jersey, 


SPEARPOINTS   AND    ARROWHEADS.  251 

This  pattern  of  spearpoint  is  found  in  considerable  numbers  in  the 
valley  of  the  Susquehanna,  Pa.  Those  in  the  cabinet  of  the  late 
Professor  Haldeman  are  made  principally  of  limestone,  and  are  of 
neat  workmanship.  In  the  western  states,  east  of  the  Mississippi 
river,  these  implements  are  found  frequently,  and,  as  a  rule,  exhibit  a 
higher*  degree  of  finish  than  similar  objects  found  along  the  Atlantic 
seaboard. 

In  many  localities  in  New  Jersey,  there  are  found  great  numbers  of 
halves  of  these  implements.  Of  these  fragments,  the  great  majority 
are  bases.  Why  so  many  were  overlooked,  if  the  custom  ever  pre 
vailed  of  gathering  any  of  them  for  conversion  into  stemmed  scrapers, 
does  not  appear.  Indeed,  it  seems  more  probable  that  the  points  of 
these  spears  were  gathered,  and  not  the  bases.  In  all  cases  within 
my  own  collecting  experience,  I  have  noticed  a  marked  absence  of 
points  of  spears  and  arrowheads. 

Fig.  232  represents  a  second  example  of  these  large  spearpoints, 
differing  only  in  having  a  more  convex  outline,  and  in  being  a  trifle 
shorter.  This  specimen  is  made  of  chert,  and,  considering  the  material, 
is  handsomely  worked.  It  has  so  far  been  the  case  in  New  Jersey, 
that  these  large  spearpoints,  usually  broken,  have  occurred  in  numbers, 
in  very  limited  areas,  and  no  others  have  been  found  within  several 
miles.  This  fact  has  been  so  frequently  noticed  as  to  give  rise  to  the 
impression,  that  where  these  were  found,  a  battle  had  been  fought,  and 
these  broken  weapons  were  lost  and  destroyed  during  the  contest. 
How  far  this  may  be  true  is  a  matter  of  opinion.  That  it  possesses  an 
element  of  probability  is  undeniable. 

A  large  number  of  these  implements  of  this  pattern  and  material 
have  been  found  in  the  valley  of  the  Delaware,  from  Easton,  Pa., 
as  far  south  as  Salem  Co.,  New  Jersey.  They  are  less  common  in  the 
Susquehanna  valley,  I  judge,  than  the  narrower  examples,  like  fig.  231. 
In  the  Connecticut  valley  many  have  been  found,  some  of  them  even 
longer  and  more  delicately  chipped.  In  eastern  Massachusetts  there 
are  but  few  found.  The  local  collections  made  in  New  York,  of  which 
I  have  knowledge,  contain  comparatively  few  examples  of  flint  spear- 


252 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


points,  as  large  as  this.  I  am  inclined  to  think,  however,  that  the 
rarity  of  these  implements  is  more  apparent  than  real,  and  has  arisen 
from  the  unfortunate  habit  of  not  preserving  the  halves,  or  even  smaller 
fragments  of  them,  when  found.  Spearpoints  could  nowhere  be  con 
sidered  as  common,  if  their  numbers  were  judged  only  by  the  perfect 

specimens  which  have  been  preserved. 
Fig.  233  represents  a  good  example 
of  a  very  common  spearpoint,  such  as  is 
found  in  every  field,  and  wherever  the 
ordinary  arrowheads  and  other  objects 
of  Indian  manufacture  occur. 

This  specimen  is  chipped  from  yel 
low,  quartz-veined  jasper,  a  mineral  that 
is  shown  to  have  been  in  great  demand 
with  the  arrowmakers,  by  the  large  mass 
es  of  it  found  on  their  workshop  sites. 
Fig.  233  is  a  well-wrought  implement, 
and  has  been  finished  more  with  reference 
to  strength  and  durability,  than  appear 
ance.  The  point  and  sides  are  still  quite 
sharp,  and  the  weapon  is  a  good  one 
whether  used  as  a  spearpoint  or  a  knife. 
Deposits  of  from  twenty  to  one  hun 
dred  spears  identical  with  this  have  oc 
casionally  been  found.  Especially  was 
this  the  case  in  southern  New  Jersey. 
What  the  object  could  have  been  of  thus 
concealing  implements  supposed  to  be 
in  constant  use  is,  and  probably  must  remain,  a  mystery. 

Spearpoints  of  this  size  are  comparatively  common  throughout  the 
New  England  states.  Professor  Haldeman  received  many  specimens, 
from  several  careful  collectors  in  the  Susquehanna  valley,  and  a 
few  were  found  in  the  rock-retreat  discovered  by  him,  in  the  Chickies 
Rock,  near  Columbia,  Pa. 


FlG.  233.  — New  Jersey,     y. 


SPEARPOINTS  AND   ARROWHEADS. 


253 


Fig.  234  represents  what  is  probably  the  minimum  size  of  spear- 
points.  Certainly  objects  so  large  as  this  could  not  have  been  arrow 
heads,  and  their  use  as  knives  is  very  problematical.  The  interesting 
feature  of  such  specimens  as  fig.  234  is  that  they  are  made  of  argil- 
lite,  and  in  the  amount  of  weathering  and  rude  workmanship  they 
exhibit  all  the  evidence  of  age  that  characterizes  the  palaeolithic  im 
plements  of  the  river-drift  gravel.  What  relationship  they  may  bear, 
if  any,  to  those  implements,  has  been 
discussed  elsewhere.  It  is  only  neces 
sary  to  remark,  in  this  connection, 
that  the  evidence,  which  is  very 
varied,  of  the  general  use  of  argillite 
prior  to  that  of  jasper  and  quartz,  is 
almost  unquestionable. 

This  spearpoint  measures  three 
inches  in  length,  and  one  and  a  half 
inches  in  width.  It  may  be  taken  as 
a  fair  representative  of  a  class  of 
objects  that  are  found  in  extraordin 
ary  abundance  in  central  and  southern 
New  Jersey.  As  many  as  one  thou 
sand  have  been  found  in  an  area  of 
fifty  acres.  In  the  northern,  hilly 
portion  of  the  state,  I  have  no  know 
ledge  of  their  abundance,  and  have 
seen  but  few  specimens  in  local  col 
lections  made  in  that  section  of  the  state.  In  Pennsylvania,  they 
are  not  uncommon,  and  in  the  Chickies  rock-retreat,  discovered  by 
Professor  Haldeman,  numerous  specimens  have  been  found.  A 
peculiarity  in  their  distribution  is  their  frequent  occurrence  in  the 
most  unexpected  localities,  and  often  at  a  depth  that  suggests  that 
they  were  lost  when  the  face  of  the  country  was  different  from  what  it 
now  is ;  and  possibly  that  they  were  weapons  used  at  the  same  time, 


FIG.  234.  — New  Jersey,    -f. 


254 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 


and  by  the  same  people  who  fashioned  the  rude  argillite  fishspears 
that  occur  in  the  alluvial  deposits  of  the  river  valley. 

Argillite  spearpoints,  like  fig.  234,  must  not  be  confounded  with  a 
class  of  similarly  shaped  implements  made  of  slaty  rock,  which  has 
undergone  considerable  weathering,  and  so  has  the  same  appearance 
as  the  argillite.  These  slate  spearpoints  and  arrowheads  are  rudely 

made  and  usually  of  large  size. 
In  many  localities  they  are  quite 
abundant.  Especially  is  this  the 
case  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
Delaware  Water  Gap,  where 
•  thousands  of  slate  spearpoints 
and  arrowheads  have  been 
found.  At  this  locality,  the  slate 
of  which  they  are  made  is  the 
characteristic  rock. 

Fig.  235  represents  a  broad 
and  rather  short  specimen  of  a 
spearpoint,  differing  but  little 
from  fig.  234.  It  is,  however, 
made  of  jasper,  is  thicker  and 
more  carefully  chipped,  so  that 
the  edges  are  considerably 
straighter  and  sharper.  This 

j  specimen  is  supposed  to  have  had 

a  straight  stem,  as  other  speci- 

FIG.  235.  —  New  Jersey.     4--  *j       *_;      i    •         •  J     i 

mens  identical  in  size  and  shape 

have  been  gathered,  which  were  furnished  with  such  a  stem   as  in 
dicated  by  the  dotted  lines,  in  the  illustration. 

Jasper  and  quartz  spearpoints  of  this  size  and  even  larger,  when 
found  otherwise  than  singly,  are  associated  with  entire  or  fragmentary 
specimens  of  the  various  other  patterns,  thus  showing  that,  however 
used,  these  several  forms,  and  particularly  those  that  vary  so  imma- 


SPEARPOINTS   AND    ARROWHEADS.  255 

terially  as  do  this  and  fig.  233,  do  not  occur  under  circumstances 
that  would  suggest  that  they  had  been  put  to  different  uses. 

In  this  connection  it  may  be  well  to  say  that  spearpoints,  like  the 
above,  are  not  commonly  found  on  village  sites,  or  localities  where  the 
Indians  were  known  to  have  congregated ;  but,  except  under  the  cir 
cumstances  already  mentioned,  are  found  singly  in  what  is  still  forest- 
grown  land,  or  are  ploughed  up  in  fields  which,  when  the  Indians  pos 
sessed  the  land,  were  covered  with  a  dense  forest  growth.  If  we  can 
judge  from  present  appearances,  it  is  probable  that  these  implements 
were  used  principally  in  warfare,  and,  to  a  less  extent,  in  hunting. 

Fig.  236  represents  a  second  example  of  the  black,  chert  spear- 
points,  similar  to  fig.  232,  but  differing  in  the  base,  which  is  notched, 
instead  of  plain.  The  apparently  trivial  variation  in  the  finish  of  the 
base  very  naturally  suggests  the  possibility  that  these  differences  may 
indicate  various  methods  of  attaching  handles  or  shafts,  which,  if  long, 
would  convert  the  weapon  into  a  spear  or  lance  ;  if  short,  into  a  dagger, 
as  the  case  might  be.  There  does  not  appear  to  be  any  evidence  that 
the  natives  of  the  Atlantic  seaboard  used  daggers  of  this  character ; 
yet  it  may  be  that,  in  the  several  patterns  with  varying  bases,  we  have 
similar  objects  that  were  used  for  dissimilar  purposes. 

Fig.  236  was  found  near  Salem,  Salem  Co.,  New  Jersey,  in  a  neigh 
borhood  remarkable  for  the  number  and  beauty  of  the  implements 
that  have  been  left  there  by  the  ancient  inhabitants. 

Spearpoints  of  the  above  and  allied  patterns,  with  broad  blades  and 
short  stems,  do  not  appear  to  occur  in  Europe.  No  specimens  of  this 
character  are  given  by  Nilsson,  as  found  in  Scandinavia ;  and  nothing 
similar  to  fig.  236  is  described  by  Evans,  as  an  English  pattern  of  these 
implements.  The  javelin  heads  mentioned  by  him  are  usually  smaller, 
and  many  are  more  nearly  allied  to  the  long  oval  and  triangular  flints, 
that  have  already  been  described  as  knives.  The  longest  stemmed 
spear  figured  by  Mr.  Evans  is  one  with  long,  curved  barbs,  and  in  this 
respect  very  different  from  the  specimens  found  in  America. 

Fig.  237  represents  a  carefully  chipped  spearpoint  of  admirable 
proportions,  with  a  notched  base.  Implements  of  this  pattern,  and 


256 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 


size,  are  quite  common,  but  they  have  been  so  generally  broken  either 
by  use  or  subsequent  exposure,  that  it  is  very  seldom  that  a  perfect 
specimen  can  be  found. 

Every  variety  of  flint   has   been   utilized   in   making  these   spear- 


FJG.  236.  —  New  Jersey.    -J. 


FIG.  237.  —  Indiana,    -f. 


points ;    quartz  perhaps    having   been   least   frequently  used.     From 
Maine  to  Maryland,  implements  like  fig.  237   have   been   gathered, 


SPEARPOINTS   AND   ARROWHEADS. 


257 


and  it  is  a  form  which  is  found  abundantly  in  both  the  southern  and 
western  states. 

In  some  localities,  quite  a  number  of  argillite  spearpoints  of  this 
pattern  are  found,  which  vary  uniformly  from  fig.  237.  They  are  thicker 
in  the  middle  of  the  blade,  and  are  more  rudely  outlined,  in  conse 
quence  of  the  detached  flakes  being  of  larger  size.  These  peculiarities 
do  not  arise  solely  from  the  character 
of  the  material,  for  in  the  hands  of 
a  skilful  workman  argillite  can  be 
very  evenly  chipped  :  but  they  have 
every  appearance  of  being  the  result 
of  that  want  of  skill  which  is  now 
known  to  be  one  characteristic  of 
the  people  who  antedate  the  neo 
lithic,  or  polished  stone  period. 

Fig.  238  represents  a  spearpoint 
which  is  well  designed  and  care 
fully  worked.  The  material  is  a 
tough,  micaceous,  quartzose  rock, 
which,  as  bowlders,  is  frequent 
in  the  glacial  drift  of  the  central 
portion  of  the  state.  Whether  from 
the  peculiarity  of  the  mineral,  or 
design,  is  uncertain,  but  all  similar 
weapons  have  the  boundary  lines  of 
the  flakes,  detached  in  the  making, 
nearly  obliterated,  and  the  specimen  FlG<  238<  ~ New  Jersey-  !• 

thus  appears  much  like  a  polished  spearpoint,  an  implement  as  yet 
scarcely  known  in  the  Atlantic  states,  for  but  few  examples  of  slate 
spearpoints  have  been  found  which  have  been  ground  into  shape,  or 
smoothed  subsequently  to  chipping.  The  slight  "twist"  in  this  speci 
men  is  due  to  the  natural  direction  of  the  cleavage  and  not  to  design  ; 
and  the  same  is  in  all  probability  true  of  the  very  distinctly  twisted 
spearpoints  and  arrowheads  that  are  made  of  flint  and  jasper. 
17 


PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 


Spearpoints  of  this  pattern  are  not  of  frequent  occurrence  in  any 
locality.     I  have  seen  none  from  the  New  England  states,  and  but  few 

from  Pennsylvania.  In  Mercer  Co., 
New  Jersey,  in  which  locality  this 
specimen  was  found,  a  few  spear- 
points  of  this  pattern,  but  made  of 
a  different  mineral,  were  recently 
(1879)  found  lying  together  at  the 
foot  of  a  large  elm  tree,  in  a 
swamp,  of  many  acres  in  extent. 
They  were  but  a  few  inches  below 
the  surface. 

It  is  not  improbable  that  spear- 
points  of  this  pattern,  and  of  the 
several  forms  described,  were  largely 
used  for  hunting  deer  and  other 
large  mammals.  Josselyn  (Account 
of  two  voyages  to  New  England ; 
London,  1674)  has  given  a  long 
description  of  the  method  of  hunt 
ing  the  moose  practised  by  the 
Massachusetts  Indians,  and  says, 
that  after  a  long  pursuit  over  snow- 
covered  ground,  "  at  last  they  get  up 
to  him  on  each  side  and  transpierce 
him  with  their  Lances  which  for 
merly  were  no  other  but  a  staff  of 
a  yard  and  a  half  pointed  with  a 
fishe's  bone  made  sharp  at  the 
end."  Having  authority  for  the 
statement,  then,  that  lances  were  used  for  hunting  by  the  New  England 
tribes,  it  is  warrantable  to  assume  the  Indians  of  the  middle  states, 
as  having  a  like  custom,  varied  only  in  that  spearpoints  cf  stone  were 
principally  used,  instead  of  bone. 


FlG.  239.  —  New  Jersey. 


SPEARPOINTS   AND   ARROWHEADS. 


259 


Fig.  239  represents  a  very  beautiful  pattern  of  supposed  spearpoint 
which  is  comparatively  frequent  in  the  Ohio  valley,  but  is  quite  rare  in 
New  Jersey  or  the  New  England  states.  A  few  specimens,  however, 
are  known  from  every  state  from  Maine  to  Maryland.  They  appear  to 
have  been  made  in  some  one  locality,  and  subsequently  distributed  by 
barter  or  otherwise  over  the  seaboard  states  ;  as  they  are  all  made,  so 
far  as  examined,  of 
the  same  dull, 
bluish-gray  jasper 
orhornstone.  They 
are  all  alike,  and 
cannot  be  distin 
guished  from  those 
found  in  Ohio  and 
Indiana.  The 
shape  of  the  base 
and  stem,  of  itself, 
gives  no  idea  how 
these  supposed 
spearpoints  were 
hafted.  It  is  not  im 
probable,  however, 
that  a  short  handle 
and  not  a  shaft  was 
attached,  and  the 


there- 


FIG.  240.  —  New  Jersey.    -J-. 


specimen, 
fore,  is  not  a  spear- 
point  but  a  dagger.  This,  however,  is  wholly  conjectural,  though  its 
probability  is  increased  by  the  fact  that  there  are  occasionally  found 
flint  implements  of  such  design,  as  to  prove  that  sometimes  daggers, 
as  we  now  understand  that  term,  were  made  and  used  by  the  Indians 
of  the  Atlantic  seaboard. 

Fig.  240  represents  an  unusually  large  example  of  a  form  of  spear- 
point  which  is  not  very  common,  particularly  of  so  large  a  size.     These 


260  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

stemmed  triangular  spearpoints  vary  somewhat  in  shape.  Sometimes 
the  sides  are  slightly  convex,  and  again,  the  short  stems  are  notched, 
and  not  plain,  as  in  fig.  240.  They  are  always  made  of  jasper  and 
quartz ;  and  the  smaller  sizes  are,  as  a  class,  more  delicately  chipped 
than  most  of  the  other  patterns  of  these  implements. 

This  form  of  spearpoint  is  so  different  from  any  of  the  preceding, 
and  is  so  far  a  widely  distributed  pattern,  that  it  seems  probable  that  it 
was  used  in  some  particular  manner,  whether  for  hunting  or  in  warfare. 
The  late  Professor  Haldeman  found  them  quite  common  in  the  valley  of 
the  Susquehanna, and  called  them  "fish-gigs"  in  the  MS.  catalogue  of 
his  collection  from  that  locality.  That  they  may  have  been  used  for 
spearing  fish  is  not  improbable  ;  and,  indeed,  for  capturing  fish  so  large 
as  the  sturgeon,  they  are  not  poorly  adapted.  That  they  were  also  used 
in  spearing  turtles  is  also  probable,  from  the  fact  that  a  series  of  eleven 
of  these  spearpoints  were  recently  found  in  Gloucester  Co.,  New 
Jersey,  associated  with  an  enormous  quantity  of  the  bones  of  the 
several  species  of  water  turtles,  especially  the  snapper  ( Chelydra 
serpentina). 

While  spearpoints  of  this  pattern  are  so  well  known  to  collectors  in 
New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania,  they  do  not  appear  to  be  common 
throughout  New  England. 

Fig.  241  represents  a  rude  argillite  implement  which  is  so  similar 
to  the  spearpoints,  that  it  is  also  classed  as  such,  although  it  is  not 
certain  that  it  was  so  used.  Of  a  very  large  series  of  this  pattern,  not 
one  seems  to  have  been  acutely  pointed,  although  it  is  possible  that 
the  point  may  have  been  worn  away,  or  broken,  and  that  the  imple 
ment  was  subsequently  used  as  a  knife.  The  chipping  is  of  the  rudest 
character,  even  more  carelessly  done,  than  in  many  of  the  palaeo 
lithic  implements  of  the  river  drift. 

Rude  as  these  specimens  are,  it  must  be  remembered  that  the 
material  of  which  they  are  made  is  very  hard  and  susceptible  of 
being  brought  to  a  very  sharp  edge,  and  therefore,  although  care 
lessly  shaped,  were  not  the  less  available  either  as  spearpoints  or 
knives.  The  entire  series  of  these  argillite  implements  are  now  much 


SPEARPOINTS  AND   ARROWHEADS.  26 1 

decomposed  upon  the  surface,  through  weathering,  but  when  made 
were  quite  sharp. 

As  in  the  case  of  the  smaller  spearpoint,  fig.  234,  it  is  uncertain  as 
to  the  precise  relationship  these  large  implements  bear  to  the  palaeo 
lithic  implements  of  the  river  drift,  and  the  later  fish- spears  of  the 
alluvial  deposits.  The  degree  of  weathering  of  the  surface  of  itself 


FIG.  241.  —  New  Jersey. 


indicates  considerable  antiquity,  but  as  this  weathering  may  be  compar 
atively  rapid  or  very  gradual,  under  certain  circumstances,  it  does  not 
afford,  alone,  sufficient  basis  for  making  an  estimate  of  the  age  of 
these  implements  ;  sufficient  at  least,  to  carry  them  back  to  so  remote  a 
time  as  the  date  of  the  rude  implements  of  the  river  gravels,  or  possibly 
even  that  of  the  fish-spears.  These  specimens  have,  thus  far,  been  found 
usually  in  the  uplands  on  and  near  the  surface,  mostly  singly,  and  not 


262  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

always  associated  with  jasper  and  quartz  implements.  While  but  little 
in  the  character  of  the  localities  where  found  tends  to  separate  them, 
from  the  later  handiwork  of  the  Indians  ;  it  must  be  remembered  that, 
like  the  smaller  specimens,  they  occur  frequently  in  localities  where 
ordinary  jasper  implements  are  never  found,  and  are  brought  to  light, 
through  landslides  and  the  uprooting  of  trees,  from  depths  greater 
than  it  is  usual  to  find  jasper  implements, — circumstances  which 
strongly  suggest,  if  they  do  not  prove,  their  greater  antiquity. 

While  the  implements  of  argillite  and  those  of  the  same  pattern 
of  jasper  and  other  silicious  minerals  are  here  considered  collectively, 
because  they  are  now  so  frequently  found  associated  wherever  relics 
of  the  early  races  occur,  it  is  not  intended  to  convey  the  impres 
sion  that  they  are  all  necessarily  of  the  same  age,  or  origin  even.  As  will 
be  mentioned  in  subsequent  pages,  while  the  relative  age  or  pre-Indian 
origin  of  any  single  specimen  of  argillite  implement  cannot  be  posi 
tively  determined,  except  in  the  case  of  the  palaeolithic  implements  of 
the  glacial  drift,  there  is  an  amount  of  evidence  in  the  circumstances 
under  which  many,  if  not  most,  of  the  argillite  spearpoints  and  arrow 
heads  occur  to  warrant  us  in  referring  them  to  an  earlier  people  than 
the  jasper- chipping  Indians.  When  we  come  to  consider  the  class  of 
fish-spears,  so  called,  made  of  argillite,  the  racial  belongings  of  this 
supposed  pre-Indian  people  will  be  considered. 

Fig.  242  represents  a  well-known  form  of  short,  broad  spearpoint, 
not  abundant  in  any  locality,  but  found  occasionally  over  a  great  extent 
of  territory.  Investigations  thus  far  show  them  to  be  more  common  in 
Kentucky  than  elsewhere.  Like  fig.  239,  they  seem  to  be  all  made  of 
the  peculiar  blue-gray  hornstone,  so  much  used  by  the  Indians  of  that 
locality.  In  some  instances,  the  peculiar,  deep,  narrow  notches  are 
twice  the  length  of  those  of  fig.  242,  although  the  specimen  is  no 
larger.  The  chipping  of  these  spearpoints  is  always  of  the  most 
finished  character,  and  the  effect  is  as  artistic,  as  it  is  possible  to  pro 
duce  with  this  material.  As  the  edges  are  worked  with  all  the  skill 
and  precision  that  mark  the  best  examples  of  typical  knives,  it  is  not 
improbable  that  these  objects  were  cutting  rather  than  piercing  imple- 


SPEARPOINTS   AND   ARROWHEADS. 


263 


ments ;  but,  as  was  clearly  shown,  when  the  former  implements  were 
treated  of,  there  was  no  possibility  of  discriminating,  in  many  cases, 
between  knives  and  spears. 

No  specimens  of  this  pattern  have  been  found  in  New  England, 
of  which  I  am  aware,  except  a  few  examples  from  the  Connecticut  valley. 
In  New  York,  they  appear  to  be  of  rare  occurrence.  In  Pennsylvania, 
they  are  more  common,  although  none  were  found  by  the  late  Professor 


FIG.  242.  —  New  Jersey.    7. 

Haldeman,  during  the  several  years  he  collected,  with  such  success,  in 
the  valley  of  the  Susquehanna. 

In  fig.  243  we  have  a  second  example  of  a  carefully  chipped  imple 
ment,  which  varies  but  little  from  the  preceding.  The  notches  at  the 
sides  are  not  so  deep  nor  are  the  barbs  so  well  defined,  but  it  can 
scarcely  be  doubted,  that  the  uses  of  the  two  were  the  same.  Fig.  243 
is  chipped  from  black  hornstone,  which  is  common  in  the  shape  of 
bowlders  and  pebbles  in  the  river  gravels ;  but  it  is  not  as  delicately 
worked  as  the  former.  It  is  very  probable  that  this  specimen  was 
copied  from  the  more  elaborately  finished  specimen,  fig.  242,  and  that 


264 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 


it  was  brought  from  some  western  or  southern  locality.  This  would 
seem  to  be  true  not  only  of  a  great  many  spearpoints,  but  also  of  other 
objects,  which  were  more  artistically  designed  and  finished  in  the 
southwestern  than  in  the  seaboard  states. 

Fig.  244  represents  a  plainer  example  of  these  broad  triangular  points, 
and  one  that  in  size  comes  very  near  the  largest  size  of  arrowheads. 
These  spearpoints  are  not  very  abundant,  but  are  usually  represented 
by  one  or  more  specimens,  in  every  local  collection.  In  Massachu- 


FIG.  243.  —  New  Jersey. 


FIG.  244.  —  New  Jersey. 


setts,  they  are  occasionally  found.  In  Connecticut,  they  appear  to 
be  more  abundant.  In  New  Jersey,  they  are  found  in  some  limited 
localities  in  considerable  numbers,  but  never,  apparently,  in  other 
districts  of  wide  area.  The  late  Professor  Haldeman  found  but  few 
specimens  in  the  Susquehanna  valley,  and  considered  them  as  the 
same  implement  as  the  large  stemmed  triangular  specimens,  which 
he  called  "fish-gigs." 

In  concluding  the  subject  of  spearpoints,  it  is  well  to  call  attention 
to  a  class  of  specimens,  which,  though  considered  separately  in  conse 
quence  of  a  peculiarity  in  their  finish,  should  not  in  reality  be  so  treated, 


SPEARPOINTS    AND    ARROWHEADS. 


as  there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  the  peculiarity  has  anything  what 
ever  to  do  with  the  purpose  or  object  of  the  implement.  This  feature  is 
the  twist  or  bend  in  the  blade,  which  has  been  supposed  to  have  been 
intentionally  produced  for  the  purpose  of  giving  to  the  arrow  or  spear 
a  rotary  motion,  during  its  flight  through  the  air ;  this  motion  being 
increased  by  the  manner  in  which  the 
shaft  of  the  weapon  was  feathered.  In 
cases  like  fig.  245,  where  the  entire 
blade  is  affected,  this  twist  is  wholly 
due  to  the  nature  of  the  mineral,  and 
is  a  decided  objection  to  the  implement 
if  intended  as  an  arrowhead.  If,  how 
ever,  it  was  designed  for  use  as  a  dagger, 
it  is  rather  an  advantage,  as  the  wound 
made  by  such  an  implement  would  be 
more  jagged  and  severe,  than  that 
caused  by  a  similar  implement  with 
smooth,  straight  edges. 

Fig.  246  represents  a  smaller  and 
much  more  rudely  finished  example  of 
these  "twisted"  spearpoints  from  In 
diana.  The  serrated  edges,  in  this 
instance,  add  to  the  efficacy  of  this  im 
plement,  as  a  deadly  thrusting  weapon, 
and  its  size,  although  somewhat  smaller 
than  the  preceding,  suggests  its  use  as 
a  spear  or  dagger  rather  than  an  arrow 
head. 

That  the  peculiar  "twist"  of  the  smaller  examples  of  these  imple 
ments  can  have  no  bearing  upon  the  supposed  rotary  motion  of  the 
arrows  armed  with  them,  is  shown  in  the  fact  that  chipped  knives  are 
frequently  found,  that  have  the  same  peculiarity ;  and  certainly  these 
cutting  tools  had  no  need  of  a  twist  to  aid  them  in  a  movement  not 
required  of  them.  In  the  few  New  Jersey  specimens  that  I  have 


FIG.  245.  —  New  Jersey, 


266 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 


collected,  it  is  evident  in  many  cases,  that  the  original  flake  had 
assumed  this  bent  shape  when  detached,  and  that  it  had  been  subse 
quently  made  into  a  spear  or  knife,  notwithstanding  the  disadvantage 
of  being  crooked.  In  other  cases,  the  chipping  along  the  edge  had 
been  intentional,  and  the  result  was  an  arrowhead  or  spearpoint  with 
bevelled  edges  ;  the  slope  of  the  two  sides  being  in  opposite  directions. 
The  object  of  this  is,  of  course,  unknown. 

The  proportion  of  bent  to  straight  spearpoints  and  arrowheads,  as 

found  in  New  Jersey,  and  throughout 
New  England  is  very  small,  and  far  less 
than  obtains  in  Ohio  and  the  southwest. 
This  is  probably  largely  due  to  the  ab 
sence  of  jasper  which  flakes  in  the 
peculiar  manner  that  has  been  de 
scribed.  The  supply  of  jasper  and 
quartz  used  by  the  Indians  was  derived 
from  the  river-drift,  to  a  great  extent, 
and  probably  most  of  the  arrowheads 
were  made  from  pebbles  which  only 
yielded  sufficient  material  to  make  two 
or  three  implements.  Large  bowlders 
were  also  brought  from  the  river  and 
used,  as  will  be  mentioned  in  a  subse 
quent  chapter.  These  bowlders  are 
generally  of  a  comparatively  straight 
fracture,  and  few  flakes  are  found  which, 
to  the  maker  of  flint  implements,  would  suggest  the  twisted  spearpoint 
or  arrowhead. 

We  have  now  to  consider  a  series  of  implements  of  uniform  pattern, 
which,  from  their  similarity  and  apparent  inadequacy  to  meet  other 
purposes,  may  be  supposed  to  be  typical  spears.  Fig.  247  represents 
one,  and  is  an  excellent  average  example  of  the  class.  These  slender 
spearpoints,  very  long  in  proportion  to  their  width,  are  found  in  great 
abundance  in  many  localities,  while  in  others  they  are  wholly  wanting. 


FIG.  246. —  Indiana,     -j-. 


SPEARPOINTS   AND    ARROWHEADS. 


267 


P. 

\\ 


Although  not  unknown  throughout  the  New  England  states,  they  are, 
except  in  the  Connecticut  valley,  relatively  scarce  as  compared  with 
the  numbers  found  in  the  valley  of  the  Delaware  river,  south  of  Trenton. 
In  that  portion  of  this  valley,  they  are  exceedingly  abundant.  Often 
a  dozen  or  more  have  been  found  in  a  very  limited 
space  along  the  shores  of  that  stream.  From  the 
fact  that  they  are  very  numerous  along  the  banks 
of  the  river  and  the  larger  creeks,  and  are  found 
but  seldom  at  a  distance  from  such  streams,  it  has 
been  supposed,  not  without  reason,  that  they  were 
largely,  if  not  exclusively  used  in  spearing  or  shoot 
ing  fish.  Upon  this  point,  Holm  said  of  the  Dela 
ware  Indians,95  "they  take  fish  in  the  same  manner 
(by  shooting)  :  when  the  waters  are  high,  the  fish 
run  up  the  creeks  and  return  at  ebb  tide ;  so  that 
the  Indians  can  easily  shoot  them  at  low  water,  and 
drag  them  ashore." 

This  form  of  spear  is  also  abundantly  met  with 
along  the  shore  of  and  in  the  many  islands  in  the 
Susquehanna  river,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Colum 
bia,  Pennsylvania.  In  September,  1877,  in  company 
with  the  late  Prof.  S.  S.  Haldeman,  the  author 
visited  several  points  in  the  river  near  Chickies, 
Lancaster  county,  and  found  a  typical  specimen  of 
these  slender  spearpoints.  Subsequently,  several 
specimens  were  collected  by  boys  in  the  neighbor 
hood,  and  the  proportion  found  along  the  river 
shore,  in  comparison  to  those  found  on  the  fields, 
showed  I  think,  if  we  may  judge  of  the  uses  of  stone 
implements  from  the  character  of  the  locality  where  the  majority  of 
them  are  found,  that  they  belong  to  a  class  of  spearpoints  that  were  used 
principally  for  capturing  fish.  The  fact  that  a  few  specimens  of  bone 


FIG.  247.  —  New  Jer 
sey.      [. 


95Desc.  of  Province  of  New  Sweden,  by  T.  Campanius  Holm,  p.  121,  Philadelphia,  1834. 


268  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

fish-spears,  such  as  are  now  used  by  the  Eskimo,  have  been  found  in 
the  Susquehanna  valley,  does  not  invalidate  the  theory,  if  so  we  must 
consider  it,  that  these  stone  spearpoints  were  also  used  in  fishing. 
The  Eskimo  of  late  date  made  stone  spears  that  are  ruder  than  fig. 
247.  Compare  Lubbock's  illustration  of  an  Eskimo  spear  (Prehistoric 
Times,  p.  492,  fig.  218)  with  fig.  247  of  this  volume. 

Loskiel,96  describing  the  customs  of  the  Delaware  Indians,  says 
"I  am  now  to  describe  one  of  the  most  favorite  diversions  of  the  In 
dians  next  to  hunting,  namely,  that  of  fishing.  Little  boys  are  even 
frequently  seen  wading  in  shallow  brooks,  shooting  fishes  with  their 
bows  and  arrows. 

"  The  Indians  always  carry  hooks  and  small  harpoons  with  them, 
whenever  they  are  on  a  hunting  party  ;  but  at  certain  seasons  of  the  year 
they  go  out  purposely  to  fish,  either  alone  or  in  parties.  They  make 
use  of  the  neat  and  light  canoes  made  of  birch  bark,  *  *  *  and 
venture  with  them  into  spacious  rivers." 

While  it  is  evident  from  the  abundance  of  plummets  or  weights  for 
fishing  lines,  found  in  Essex  Co.,  Massachusetts,  that  shooting  fish  was 
not  so  generally  practised  as  fishing  by  lines  and  nets,  there  occasion 
ally  occur  in  that  vicinity  spearpoints  of  the  same  general  pattern  as 
the  preceding ;  and  it  is  at  least  probable,  that  they  were  used  for  the 
same  purpose. 

Fig.  248  represents  an  implement  of  this  kind  from  Salem,  Mass. 
It  is  a  very  long,  narrow  and  thin  flint  blade,  which  strongly  resem 
bles  those  found  in  central  New  Jersey,  except  that  it  is  thinner,  for 
its  width,  than  the  majority  of  those  found  in  the  Delaware  valley. 
As  it  is  without  a  stemmed  base,  it  is  possible  that  it  was  intended 
for  use  as  an  awl  or  knife,  or  both,  rather  than  a  fishing  spear. 

In  a  letter  from  the  late  Prof.  Haldeman,  bearing  date  of  Feb.  12, 
1878, 1  am  informed  of  an  interesting  "find,"  as  follows  :  "About  one- 
fourth  of  a  mile  north  of  the  i;ock-retreat,  discovered  by  me  in  1876, 
the  Chickiswalungo  creek  enters  the  Susquehanna.  Part  of  the  bank 

96  Loskiel,  Z.  c.,  p.  95. 


SPEARPOINTS   AND    ARROWHEADS. 


269 


of  the  creek  has  been  washed  away  so  as  to  undermine  a  buttonwood 
tree  (Pfotanus),  nine  feet  two  inches  in  circumference  at  four  feet 
from  the  ground,  under  the  roots  of  which,  and  four  feet  from  the 
surface,  my  collecting  boys  showed  me  a  deposit  older  than  the  tree, 
in  black  mold  without  gravel,  but  probably 
in  part  due  to  occasional  floods  of  the 
Susquehanna.  Among  the  objects  are 
fragments  of  pottery,  parts  of  one  vessel 
with  a  row  of  semiperforated  holes  below 
the  margin  outside  ;  bones  of  food  animals, 
the  round  ones  split,  as  usual ;  one  good 
triangular  arrowhead;  a  chipped  knife 
(limestone  of  the  vicinity)  ;  one  like  your 
fish-spears,  but  not  with  a  worked  base ; 
many  chips,  etc."  This  specimen,  which 
I  had  afterwards  the  pleasure  of  examin 
ing,  varies  in  no  important  particular  from 
the  specimen  from  Salem,  Mass.  Like  it, 
it  is  of  flint  or  jasper,  and  more  delicately 
worked  than  most  of  the  limestone  spears 
found  in  that  neighborhood.  The  antiquity 
of  the  whole  "  find  "  is  of  much  interest, 
from  the  fact  that  pottery  was  found  with 
the  implements ;  as  it  is  evidence  of  the 
antiquity  of  the  Indian,  and  not  indica 
tive  of  any  preceding  race. 

Though  there  may  be  doubt  as  to  the 
identity  of  purpose  of  the  implement  just 
described,  with  that  of  fig.  247,  there  can 
be  none  at  all  in  the  case  of  fig.  249.  It  is,  indeed,  far  more  grace 
fully  shaped  and  delicately  chipped  than  the  common  "  fish-spears  " 
of  the  Delaware  valley,  and  yet  it  is  so  well  designed  for  spearing  fish, 
and  so  little  likely  to  have  been .  used  as  a  weapon,  that  it  is  classed 
among  them.  Like  the  preceding,  this  specimen  is  very  thin,  and  in 


FIG.  248.  — Massachusetts.    \. 


270 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


this  respect  it  shows  an  important  variation  from  those  made  of  argillite, 
or  even  the  later  forms  of  silicious  materials,  in  New  Jersey.  Large 
numbers  of  this  pattern  occur  in  the  .Connecticut  valley,  but  the  ma 
jority  of  them  have  the  width  more  uniform  along  the  greater  portion  of 
the  length  of  the  blade,  which  tapers  more  suddenly  to  the  point.  As 
a  rule,  spearpoints  of  equal  length  do  not  taper  to  the  point  directly 

from  the  base,  as  in  this  instance, 
but  preserve  a  uniform  width  for  a 
third  or  half  their  length. 

In  some  localities  west  of  the 
AUeghany  Mountains,  spearpoints 
of  this  pattern  and  size  are  quite 
abundant.  Many  are  made  of 
chalcedony  and  are  very  beautiful 
examples  of  the  skill  acquired  in 
chipping  flint  by  the  Indians  of  that 
portion  of  the  country  formerly  oc 
cupied  by  the  Delaware  or  Lenni 
Lenape  nation. 

Along  the  northern  seaboard  of 
New  Jersey,  where  the  mainland  is 
washed  by  the  sea,  occasional  speci 
mens  of  these  spearpoints,  made 
of  white  and  rose-colored  quartz, 
have  been  found,  which  are  equally 
as  well  made  as  any  specimens 
from  western  Pennsylvania,  or  even 
from  the  mound  regions  of  Ohio.  Their  shape  is  such  as  to  suggest 
their  use  in  fishing  rather  than  inland  hunting,  or  as  weapons ;  but 
strangely  enough  no  specimens  have  as  yet  been  found  in  the  shell- 
heaps  of  the  neighborhood,  ^ome  of  which  have  a  large  percentage 
of  fish-bones. 

Fig.  250  represents  a  shorter  and  broader  specimen  of  supposed 
fish-spear,  neatly  chipped  from  a  bluish  rock,  of  flint-like  appearance. 


FIG.  249.  —  Massachusetts.    \. 


SPEARPOINTS    AND    ARROWHEADS. 


271 


Though  found  elsewhere  to  some  extent,  the  majority  occur  along  the 
river  banks  and  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  larger  inland  lakes  and 
creeks.  Many  have  recently  been  found  on  the  Pennsylvania  shore  of 
the  Delaware  river,  opposite  Bordentown,  N.  J.  Here  they  are  mingled 
with  the  ever-shifting  sands  and  are  brought  to  light  and  then  buried, 
by  the  changes  of  every  tide. 

Fish-spears  of  this    pattern   are   not  as  common  as  those   with  a 
notched  base,  though  in  other  respects  there  is 
such  a  general  resemblance  between  them,  that  it 
cannot  be  doubted  that  they  are  two  forms  of  one 
and  the  same  implement. 

This  same  pattern  of  spear  is  quite  common 
along  the  coast,  and  scores  have  been  gathered 
near  Tuckerton,  and  Barnegat,  in  Burlington 
county,  and  about  Beesley's  Point,  Cape  May 
county,  New  Jersey,  and  I  am  informed  that  spear- 
points  of  this  and  allied  patterns  have  occasionally 
been  found  in  the  extensive  shell-heaps  on  Long 
Island. 

One  of  those  curious  and  interesting  "deposits" 
of  chipped  stone  implements,  which  are  occasion 
ally  discovered  in  various  localities  throughout  the 
United  States,  was  lately  brought  to  light,  in  Bur 
lington  county,  New  Jersey ;  which  consisted  en 
tirely  of  spearpoints  of  this  pattern.  Unfortunate 
ly,  they  were  not  counted  when  first  seen,  so  the 
exact  number  is  not  known,  but  over  four  hundred  were  traced,  and 
the  specimens  compared,  one  with  another.  There  was  no  difference 
of  importance,  either  in  size,  shape  or  finish.  They  were  evidently  all 
made  of  the  same  material,  a  dark,  blue-gray  flint,  and  none  showed 
any  evidence  of  having  been  used,  or,  indeed,  of  having  been  exposed 
at  all  to  the  air.  They  were  remarkably  "fresh"  in  appearance  and 
had  evidently  been  buried  very  soon  after  they  were  made.  The 
locality,  where  this  deposit  was  found,  is  on  the  south  bank  of  Cross- 


FIG.  250.  —  New  Jer 
sey.    }. 


272  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

wicks  Creek,  about  three  miles  from  its  mouth.  The  proximity  of  good 
fishing  grounds,  the  size  and  shape  of  the  implements  themselves,  and 
the  fact  that  such  specimens  are  found,  as  a  rule,  near  the  water,  war 
rant  us  in  considering  the  spears  of  this  pattern  as  fishing  implements 
primarily  ;  although  their  frequent  use  in  other  ways  is  highly  probable. 

In  fig.  251  we  have  a  more  elaborately  fashioned  example  of  such 
fish-spears,  if  indeed,  it  can  be  so  classed.  In  general  appearance  it 
suggests  the  idea  of  drills  or  perforators ;  but  being  very  thin,  as  com 
pared  with  its  width,  it  is  evident  that  as  a  drill,  it  would  be  of  but 
little  value.  As  it  is  broken  at  the  base,  it  is  impossible  to  determine 
how  it  was  there  finished,  but  it  is  not  probable  that  there  was  a  dupli 
cation  of  the  broad,  barb-like  projections.  Spearpoints  of  this  pattern 
are  very  unusual,  judged  by  their  scarcity  in  the  various  large  collec 
tions  from  New  Jersey  and  New  England. 

In  the  very  large  collection  of  the  late  Professor  Haldeman,  of 
chipped  implements  from  the  Susquehanna  valley,  are  several  speci 
mens  of  jasper  and  limestone  spears  of  this  pattern,  except  that  there 
is  but  one  barb-like  projection.  These  non-symmetrical  forms  are  not 
uncommon  in  the  class  of  arrowheads,  and  many  of  the  so-called 
stemmed  knives  have  also  this  peculiarity.  If  we  are  justified  in  consid 
ering  these  implements  as  spearpoints,  it  is  not  evident  what  advantage 
there  was,  in  having  the  one  barb.  The  character  of  the  chipping 
shows,  I  think,  that  it  was  intentional,  and  not  necessarily  that  one 
of  the  barbs  being  broken,  the  fractured  margin  was  smoothed  down  by 
re-chipping. 

Fig.  252  represents  a  form  of  spearpoint  which,  by  its  size,  ap 
proaches  closely  the  boundary  between  spearpoints  and  arrowheads. 
This  form  is  not  as  characteristic  of  fishing  grounds,  as  are  some  of 
the  others,  especially  figs.  247  and  253,  but  there  is  so  close  a  resem 
blance  as  to  make  it  probable,  that  it  should  be  considered  as  a 
fish-spear. 

While  the  chipping  of  these  slender  jasper  points  is,  in  many  cases, 
very  carefully  done,  yet  as  a  rule  such  implements  cannot  compare  in 
finish  with  other  forms  that  were  evidently  intended  for  hunting,  or  as 


SPEARPOINTS   AND   ARROWHEADS. 


273 


weapons.  These  latter  are  much  larger  and  show  a  higher  grade  of 
workmanship  than  any  of  the  slender  fish-spears.  Was  it  because  the 
fish-spears  were  far  more  liable  to  be  lost  ? 

Spearpoints  of  this  pattern  made  of  quartz  and  jasper  are  much 
more  frequently  found  in  New  York  and  Connecticut,  than  either  in 
the  northern  New  England  states,  or  in  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey. 
In  the  Susquehanna  valley  (Pennsylvania)  they  appear  to  be  very  rare. 

The  preceding  examples  of  these  slender  spearpoints  were  all  from 


FIG.  251.  —  New  Jersey,    -y. 


FIG.  252.  —  New  Jersey,    y. 


the  surface,  and  are  found  not  only  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the 
rivers  and  smaller  streams  but  to  some  extent  in  upland  fields,  associ 
ated  with  the  common  forms  of  stone  implements.  There  is,  of  course, 
nothing  to  indicate  that  they  are  of  other  than  Indian  manufacture. 
Associated  with  them,  when  found  upon  the  surface,  and  occurring  in 
scanty  numbers  in  fields,  far  from  any  water  course,  are  other  examples 
of  these  slender  spearpoints  which  do  appear  to  tell  another  tale. 
While  sometimes  found  with  jasper  spears  they  are  more  frequently  met 
18 


274 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


with  alone,  and  hence,  though  they  may  be  said  to  be  with  them,  they  are 
not  of  them.  These  spearpoints  are  all  of  argillite,  of  nearly  uniform 
size,  and  vary  but  little  in  the  finish  of  the  base. 

Fig.  253  represents  a  good  average  specimen  of  hundreds  that  have 
been  collected  from  the  alluvial  deposits,  through  which  various  creeks 
have  now  worn  their  channels.     In  this  alluvial  mud  which  has  been 
for  centuries,  and  is  still  accumulating,   many 
specimens  of  these   argillite    spearpoints   have 
been  found  at  various  depths,  even  to  five  feet, 
and  nowhere  do  they  occur  in  such  abundance 
as  in  this  deposit,  which  forms  the  tide-water 
meadows  that  skirt  the  banks  of  the  Delaware 
river  from  Trenton  to  the  sea. 

Fig.  254  represents  the  only  variation  of  im 
portance  from  the  typical  form  as  given  in  the 
preceding  illustration.  This  specimen,  which 
strongly  resembles  an  ordinary  flint-drill,  repre 
sents  about  one  per  cent,  of  the  fish-spears  found 
in  the  mud  deposits  referred  to.  Occasionally 
one  of  this  pattern  will  be  found  with  one  or 
'more  shallow  notches  on  the  edge,  near  the  base, 
and  only  on  one  side.  These  lateral  notches 
are  an  indication  of  the  means  employed  in 
securing  the  implement  to  a  staff.  Why  not 
notched  upon  both  sides  is  difficult  to  imagine  ; 
but  it  is  not  only  in  these  supposed  fish-spears 
that  this  peculiarity  is  found.  In  quite  a  large 
percentage  of  the  jasper  and  slate  hoe-blades  —  if  such  they  are — this 
same  feature  of  a  notch  or  notches  on  one  side  occurs. 

It  may  be  considered  that  we  are  without  a  warrant  in  assuming 
that  the  use  of  any  implement  can  be  determined  by  the  character  of 
the  locality  where  the  implement  was  found.  To  a  certain  extent, 
this  is  unquestionably  true.  A  bead  is  none  the  less  an  ornament, 
whether  dredged  from  the  river  bottom  or  found  in  an  upland  field, 


FIG.  253.  —  New  J< 


SPEARPOINTS   AND    ARROWHEADS. 


275 


and  yet  how  very  seldom  does  any  implement  or  other  relic  of  the 
Indians  occur,  except  where  we  should  expect  to  find  them.  In  basing 
any  conclusions  upon  the  characteristic  features  of  the  locality,  where 
the  implements  under  consideration  are  found,  it  is  obviously  necessary 
to  determine  if  there  has  been  any  recent  general  disturbance  of  the 
surface.  Alterations  of  the  surface  caused  by  the  removal  of  heavy 
forest  growths  must  be  always  borne  in  mind ;  the  possibility  of  im 
plements  being  brought  from  some  distance  by  floods,  or  even  the 
temporary  currents  of  heavy  rainfalls.  Occur 
rences  like  these  can,  in  nearly  every  instance, 
be  readily  determined,  and  all  objects  that 
have  evidently  been  brought  to  the  surface  or 
the  spot  where  found,  through  such  occur 
rences,  should  not  enter  into  account  when  we 
come  to  study  a  representative  series  from  un 
disturbed  localities.  It  is  clearly  evident  that, 
in  the  vast  majority  of  instances,  stone  imple 
ments  are  in  practically  the  same  position  that 
they  were  when  buried,  lost  or  discarded.  A  sin 
gle  specimen,  or  even  a  hundred  might  readily 
mislead  one,  and  give  rise  to  very  erroneous 
impressions  as  to  the  character  of  the  locality 
where  such  objects  were  sometimes  found,  as 
in  the  instance  given  in  the  second  volume 
of  the  Reports  of  the  Archaeological  Museum 
at  Cambridge,  Mass.,  p.  243,  where  palaeolithic 


FIG.  254.  — New  Jersey,     -y. 


implements  were  found  associated  with  a  ^grooved  axe  and  fragments 
of  pottery.  It  is  only  when  hundreds  have  been  carefully  gathered  in 
person,  that  it  becomes  safe  to  base  any  conclusions  upon  locality ; 
but  when  we  have  the  material  in  such  abundance,  as  in  the  case  of 
these  argillite  spearpoints,  and  find  that  over  eighty  per  cent,  are  from 
an  alluvial  deposit  skirting  the  river,  it  does  become  highly  probable; 
at  least,  that  they  were  used  in  and  about  the  river,  or  in  other  words, 
as  a  means  of  capturing  fish. 


276  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

It  does  not  necessarily  follow,  that  because  these  implements  were 
used  mostly  as  fish-spears,  that  they  were  not  used  in  capturing  such 
animals  as  frequent  the  banks  of  our  rivers  and  inland  streams.  The 
number  of  these  was  really  very  large,  and  it  can  scarcely  be  doubted 
but  that  many  were  speared  or  shot  with  arrows,  tipped  by  these  long, 
slender  argillite  points. 

The  beaver  (  Castor  fiber} ,  musk-rat  {Fiber  zibethicus) ,  otter  {Lutra 
canadensis),  mink  (Pu  forms  vison),  among  our  mammals,  and  vari 
ous  turtles  and  water-fowl ;  all  frequented,  in  vast  numbers,  the  very 
streams  where  such  large  numbers  of  these  argillite  spears  are  found ; 
and  while  it  is  true  that  ordinary  arrowheads  are  frequently  found  on 
the  shores  of  these  streams,  it  cannot  be  maintained,  with  reason,  that 
the  tapering  argillite  points  were  used  solely  for  capturing  fish,  and  the 
few  arrowheads  that  we  find  were  those  lost  in  unsuccessful  efforts  to 
capture  other  animals.  On  the  other  hand,  nets,  lines  and  traps  of 
various  patterns,  for  securing  fish,  were  so  generally  used  by  the 
Indians,  that  it  may  well  be  doubted,  if  these  argillite  spearpoints  are 
really  the  handiwork  of  the  later  Indians.  Spears  made  of  other 
material  like  the  ordinary  jasper  arrowheads,  with  which  they  are 
associated,  are  unquestionably  of  Indian  make  ;  but  these  strongly 
suggest  another  and  an  earlier  origin. 

The  origin  of  the  mud  deposit  containing  these  rude  fish-spears  is  a 
subject  requiring  fuller  treatment  than  can  be  here  given  to  it,  but  its 
bearing  on  the  subject  of  the  age  of  the  contained  implements  requires 
more  than  a  passing  notice.  This  deposit  of  mud  is  of  a  deep  blue- 
black  color,  stiff  in  consistency,  and  almost  wholly  free  from  pebbles. 
It  is  composed  of  decomposed  vegetable  matter  and  a  large  percentage 
of  very  fine  sand.  It  varies  in  depth  from  four  to  twenty  feet,  and  rests 
on  an  old  gravel,  of  an  origin  antedating  the  river  gravels  that  contain 
palaeolithic  implements.  This  mud  is  the  geological  formation  next 
succeeding  the  palceolithic  implement-bearing  gravels.  In  the  imple 
ments  it  contains  we  have  apparently  a  link  between  the  oldest  traces 
of  man,  and  the  recent  handiwork  of  the  Indians  of  historic  times. 
A  careful  survey  of  this  mud  deposit,  made  at  several  distant  points, 


SPEARPOINTS   AND    ARROWHEADS.  277 

leads  to  the  conclusion  that  its  formation  dates  from  the  exposure  of 
the  older  gravel  upon  which  it  rests,  through  the  gradual  lessening 
of  the  bulk  of  the  river  until  it  occupied  only  its  present  channel. 
How  gradually  the  river  retired  from  the  gravel  bluffs  that  formerly 
marked  its  boundary,  and  how  rapidly  this  mud  accumulated  at  the 
outset,  and  whether  at  a  more  rapid  rate  then  than  now,  are  all  points 
almost  beyond  solution.  The  indications  are,  however,  that  the 
present  volume  and  channel  of  the  river  have  been  essentially  as  they 
now  are,  for  a  very  long  period ;  and  the  character  of  the  deposit  is 
such  that  its  accumulation,  if  principally  from  decomposition  of 
vegetable  matter,  must  necessarily  be  very  gradual.  Since  its  accu 
mulation  to  a  depth  sufficient  to  sustain  tree  growth,  forests  have 
grown,  decayed  and  been  replaced  by  a  growth  of  other  timber. 
While  so  recent  in  origin  that  it  seems  scarcely  to  warrant  the  atten 
tion  of  the  geologist,  its  years  of  growth  are  nevertheless  to  be  num 
bered  by  centuries,  and  the  traces  of  man  found  at  all  depths  through 
it,  hint  of  a  distant,  shadowy  past,  that  is  difficult  to  realize. 

The  same  objection,  it  may  be,  will  be  urged  in  this  instance,  as  in 
all  others  where  the  comparative  antiquity  of  man  is  based  upon 
the  depth  at  which  stone  implements  are  found — that  all  these  traces 
have  been  left  upon  the  present  surface  of  the  ground,  and  subse 
quently  have  gotten,  by  unexplained  means,  to  the  various  depths,  at 
which  they  now  occur.  It  is,  indeed,  difficult  to  realize,  how  some  of 
these  argillite  spearpoints  have  finally  sunk  through  a  compact  peaty 
mass,  until  they  have  reached  the  very  base  of  the  deposit.  For  those 
who  urge  that  this  sinking  process  explains  the*  occurrence  of  imple 
ments  at  great  depths,  it  remains  to  demonstrate  that  the  people  who 
made  these  argillite  fish-spears  either  made  only  these,  or  were  careful 
to  take  no  other  evidences  of  their  handicraft  with  them  when  they 
wandered  about  these  meadows  ;  for  certainly  nothing  else  appears  to 
have  shared  the  same  fate,  of  sinking  deeply  into  the  mud.  In  fact, 
the  objection  mentioned  is  met,  in  this  case,  as  in  that  of  the  palaeo 
lithic  implements,  that  if  these  fish-spears  are  of  the  same  age  and 
origin  as  the  ordinary  Indian  relics  of  the  surface,  then  all  alike  should 


278  PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 

be  found  at  great  depths.  This,  we  know,  -is  not  the  case.  Further 
more,  the  character  of  the  deposit  is  not  that  of  a  loose  mud  or 
quicksand,  but  more  like  that  of  peat.  It  has  a  close  texture,  is  tough 
and  unyielding  to  a  degree,  and  offers  decided  resistance  to  the  sink 
ing  of  comparatively  light  objects  deeply  into  it.  This  is,  of  course, 
lessened  when  the  deposit  is  subject  to  tidal  overflows,  and  in  the 
immediate  vicinity  of  springs,  which,  bubbling  through  it,  have  caused 
a  deposit  of  quicksand.  While  here,  an  object  sinks  instantly  out  of 
sight,  it  is  not  here  that  we  must  judge  of  the  character  of  the  forma 
tion  as  a  whole  ;  and  over  the  greater  portion  of  its  area,  we  find  no 
evidence  of  objects  disappearing  beneath  the  surface  at  a  more  rapid 
rate  than  the  accumulation  of  decomposing  vegetable  matter  would 
explain.  Efforts  have  been  made  to  determine  the  rate  of  progress  of 
this  growth  of  mould,  but  they  are  not  wholly  satisfactory ;  neverthe 
less  the  indications  are  sufficient  to  warrant  our  belief  that  the  rate  is 
so  gradual  as  to  invest,  with  great  archaeological  interest,  the  character 
istic  traces  of  man  found  in  these  alluvial  deposits. 

The  relationship  of  these  supposed  older  spearpoints  to  those  made 
of  jasper  and  quartzite,  is  a  subject  that  demands  most  careful  consid 
eration,  and  an  abundance  of  data,  that  we  scarcely  yet  possess.  The 
subject  will  be  more  fully  treated  in  a  subsequent  chapter.  Here  it 
is  only  necessary  to  add  that  as  the  origin  of  the  oldest  traces  of  man 
yet  discovered  on  the  northern  Atlantic  seaboard — whether  Eskimo 
or  Indian  —  is  yet,  perhaps,  an  open  question ;  therefore  these  older 
and  newer  spearpoints  are  considered  together,  as  implements  of 
the  same  character,  though  not  necessarily  the  handiwork  of  the  same 
people. 

That  class  of  small  chipped  implements,  known  as  arrowheads,  is  of 
such  common  occurrence  throughout  the  country,  that  it  seems  scarcely 
necessary  to  more  than  draw  attention  to  the  several  patterns  that  are 
found,  and  make  brief  mention  of  their  relative  abundance. 

Obvious  as  is  the  purpose  of  an  arrowhead,  it  is  not  always  easy  to 
determine  whether  all  that  appear  suitable  for  heading  the  shafts  of 
arrows  were  really  so  used.  Doubtlessly,  in  the  present  series  of  arrow- 


SPEARPOIXTS   AND    ARROWHEADS.  279 

heads  of  the  usual  patterns  found  along  our  Atlantic  coast,  there  are 
several  that  were  used  as  knives  ;   and,  per  contra,  in  the 
series  of  knives  there  are  arrowheads.     It  is  also  very  proba 
ble  the  same  form  was  frequently  used  both  as  a  knife  and 
an  arrowhead. 

Holm97  writes  of  the  Delawares,  "  Although  the  Indians, 
when  the  Swedes  first  came  into  the  country,  had  no  in 
strument  or  tools  made  of  iron  or  any  other  metal ;  never 
theless,  they  could  perform  every  kind  of  work  with  their 
hands  with  such  dexterity  and  neatness,  that  the  Christians 
were  struck  with  astonishment.  They  make  their  bows  with 
the  limb  of  a  tree,  of  above  a  man's  length,  and  their  bow 
strings  out  of  the  sinews  of  animals ;  they  make  their  arrows 
out  of  a  reed,  a  yard  and  a  half  long  and  at  one  end  they 
fix  in  a  piece  of  hard  wood  of  about  a  quarter's  length ;  at 
the  end  of  which  they  make  a  hole  to  fix  in  the  head  of  the 
arrow,  which  is  made  of  a  black  flint  stone,  or  of  hard  bone 
or  horn,  or  the  teeth  of  large  fishes  or  animals,  which  they 
fasten  in  with  fish  glue  in  such  a  manner,  that  the  water 
cannot  penetrate  ;  at  the  other  end  of  the  arrow,  they  put 
feathers." 

In  the  illustration  of  an  arrow  with  a  stone  head,  fig.  255, 
found  in  Peru98,  we  have  an  exemplification  of  the  manner  in 
which  arrowshafts  were  made  ;  the  smaller,  upper  portion,  in 
the  Peruvian  example,  being  of  hard  wood,  securely  fastened 
to  a  reed.  In  this  instance,  however,  there  are  no  feathers 
at  the  base. 

Peter  Kalm,  the  Swede,  who  visited  New  Jersey  in  the 
middle  of  the  last  century,  has  left  us  an  excellent  account 
of  the  resident  tribes,  and  of  their  customs,  which  were  at 
that  time  slowly  changing  in  consequence  of  the  introduction 
of  iron  implements  by  the  Swedish  settlers.  Of  their  arrows, 

97  Holm,  /.  c.,  p.  129.  F,Gi  255_  _ 

98  For  the  use  of  this  cut,  the  author  is  indebted  to  Prof.  F.  W.  Putnam.  Peru.     4. 


2o  PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 

he  says  (Travels  in  North  America,  vol.  ii,  p.  39,  London,  1771)  : 
"At  the  end  of  their  arrows  they  fasten  narrow  angulated  pieces 
of  stone ;  they  made  use  of  them,  having  no  iron  to  make  them 
sharp  again,  or  a  wood  of  sufficient  hardness :  these  points  were 
commonly  flints  or  quartzes,  but  sometimes  likewise  another  kind  of  a 
stone.  Some  employed  the  bones  of  animals,  or  the  claws  of  birds 
and  beasts.  Some  of  these  ancient  harpoons  are  very  blunt,  and  it 
seems  that  the  Indians  might  kill  birds  and  small  quadrupeds  with 
them ;  but  whether  they  could  enter  deep  into  the  body  of  a  great 
beast  or  of  a  man,  by  the  velocity  which  they  get  from  the  bow,  I  can 
not  ascertain  ;  yet  some  have  been  found  very  sharp  and  well  made." 

Throughout  the  entire  area  of  the  country  treated  of  in  the  present 
work,  there  does  not  appear  to  be  any  material  difference  in  the  char 
acter  or  distribution  of  the  arrowheads  found,  save  that  a  prepon 
derance  of  the  more  delicately  chipped  forms  are  found  in  some 
localities.  A  thousand  arrowheads  from  the  valley  of  the  Delaware 
river  would  not  differ  materially  from  a  thousand  gathered  in  the 
Susquehanna  valley,  and  but  little,  if  any,  from  as  many  gathered  in 
the  Connecticut  valley ;  but  as  compared  with  an  equal  number  from 
Massachusetts,  they  would  show  a  somewhat  larger  percentage  of  the 
more  carefully  finished  specimens  of  jasper  and  chalcedony.  In  Ver 
mont",  as  elsewhere,  arrowheads  are  "  more  abundant  than  any  other 
class  of  specimens,  and  all  the  varieties  figured  by  Col.  Foster  ( Pre 
historic  Races)  are  found  with  others  differing  from  these.  Some 
very  singular  inequilateral  forms  occur,  like  those  figured  by  Professor 
Haldeman100  in  a  recent  number  of  the  naturalist,  and  many  others. 
Indeed,  a  close  examination  of  any  large  collection  of  flint  points  will 
show  that  entirely  symmetrical  forms  were  rarely  attained  ;  by  far  the 
larger  part  are  more  or  less  unequal,  both  as  regards  curvature  or 
straightness  of  the  edge  and  convexity  of  the  surface.  One  edge  is 
usually  more  strongly  curved  than  the  other,  and  one  surface  more 


99  Perkins.     Amer.  Nat.,  vol.  xiii,  p.  747. 
100  Haldeman.     Amer.  Nat.,  vol.  xiii,  292. 


SPEARPOINTS   AND    ARROWHEADS.  28 1 

convex  than  the  other.  Often  the  blade  is  not  in  the  same  plane 
with  the  stem,  but  seems  twisted  upon  it ;  due,  as  I  think,  less  to  the 
intention  of  the  maker  than  to  the  fracture  of  the  stone.  From  these 
slightly,  often  almost  inperceptibly  unequal  points,  we  have  every  gra 
dation  to  those  which  are  nearly  as  unsymmetrical  as  possible,  and  of 
these  latter,  some  are  so  well  chipped  that  I  cannot  regard  them  as 
'failures,'  but  for  some  unknown  reason  intentionally  of  the  form  we 
find  them.  In  comparing  the  specimens  from  the  Champlain  valley 
with  those  from  Georgia,  figured  by  Col.  C.  C.  Jones,  jr.,  I  have  been 
struck  with  the  close  resemblance  between  them  ;  there  are  compara 
tively  few  of  the  objects  described  in  antiquities  of  the  Southern 
Indians,  that  cannot  be  duplicated,  often  exactly,  in  Vermont 
specimens.  This  resemblance  is  more  noticeable  because,  among 
Dr.  Abbott's  New  Jersey  specimens,  I  find  many  unlike  those  which 
we  have  with  us." 

Professor  Perkins,  in  the  above  quotation,  refers  to  such  objects 
from  New  Jersey,  as  were  described  in  1873,  and  prior  to  any  syste 
matic  search  for  the  discarded  handiwork  of  our  resident  tribes.  In 
the  vast  amount  of  material  since  gathered,  there  are  objects  very 
similar  to,  or  identical  with,  the  collections  made  by  Col.  Jones,  in 
Georgia  and  other  southern  states ;  and  the  differences  are  now  ascer 
tained  not  to  be  so  marked  as  they  seemed  to  be,  when  the  brief 
article  on  New  Jersey  archaeology  was  written  in  1873. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  object  in  making  arrowheads  of  different 
shapes,  it  is  certain  that  they  vary  more  than  any  other  form  of  imple 
ment,  and  in  no  instance  has  any  particular  pattern  been  found  exclu 
sively  in  one  locality.  The  proportion,  however,  of  the  various  patterns 
is  quite  different  in  different  localities ;  as,  for  instance,  the  leaf-shaped 
specimens  constitute  fully  six  per  cent.101  of  all  found  in  New  Jersey, 
although  in  New  England,  they  are  far  less  common. 

While  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  seacoast,  arrowheads  do  not 


101  Abbott.      Nature,  vol.  vi,  p.  515.     The  author  here  stated  the  proportion  to  be  about  four 
and  one-half  per  cent. ;  but  subsequent  collecting  shows  them  to  be  even  more  abundant. 


282  PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 

appear  to  be  as  abundant  as  along  our  river  valleys,  they  are  not 
altogether  wanting  even  there,  but  are  sometimes  found  in  considerable 
numbers.  It  is  not  improbable  that  fishing,  rather  than  shooting,  largely 
occupied  the  time  of  the  coast  Indians,  and  therefore  the  bow  was 
comparatively  little  used.  Still,  it  is  evident,  from  the  character  of  the 
country,  that  arrowheads  once  lost  in  these  ever-shifting  sands,  or  in 
the  water,  would  seldom  be  brought  to  light ;  and  thousands  may  now 
lie  buried  in  the  sand,  which,  if  it  ever  becomes  solid  rock,  will  contain 
these  certain  evidences  of  man's  former  presence. 

Although  in  no  instance  has  any  one  pattern  of  arrowhead  been 
found  so  characteristic  of  a  given  locality,  as  are  the  argillite  fish- 
spears  of  the  alluvial  deposits  along  the  river,  it  has  frequently  been 
observed  by  collectors  that  some  particular  form  occurred  in  consider 
able  numbers  in  a  locality  of  very  limited  area,  as  a  field  or  other 
small  plat  cf  ground.  In  my  own  collecting  tours  I  have  frequently 
noticed  this,  and  can  recall  now  certain  fields  that  appeared  to  have 
only  leaf-shaped  arrowheads,  and  others  where  the  triangular  pattern 
was  alone  met  with.  Even  this  is  noticeable  with  other  forms  of 
chipped  implements,  and  local  collectors  report  fields,  or  other  spots 
of  a  few  acres,  where  only  scrapers  are  found.  This  localizing  of 
certain  forms  has  been  so  frequently  noticed  that  it  cannot  be  consid 
ered  as  a  mere  chance  occurrence,  yet  it  is  scarcely  susceptible  of  any 
rational  explanation. 

Unsymmetrical  arrowheads,  like  those  described  by  the  late  Professor 
Haldeman,  and  referred  to  by  Professor  Perkins,  are  of  quite  common 
occurrence  in  New  Jersey,  but  I  am  not  disposed  to  consider  them  as 
really  used  as  points  for  arrows.  Their  numbers,  the  character  of  the 
chipping,  and  the  size  of  the  greater  proportion  of  them,  render  it 
highly  probable  that  they  were  knives,  and,  as  such,  a  small  number 
have  been  already  described.  The  very  want  of  symmetry  that  char 
acterizes  these  specimens  renders  them  absolutely  valueless  if  used 
as  arrowheads  ;  for,  unless  the  tip  or  point  of  the  head  is  in  a  direct 
line  with  the  shaft,  the  arrow  loses,  in  a  great  degree,  its  penetrative 
power. 


SPEARPOINTS   AND    ARROWHEADS. 


283 


For  whatever  other  purposes  arrowheads  may  have  occasionally 
been  used,  their  main  purpose,  as  their  name  implies,  was  for  making 
their  arrows  more  effective  as  weapons.  Considerable  controversy  has 
arisen  concerning  how  large  a  proportion  of  these  implements  were 

used  in  the  manner  described, 
many  writers  insisting  that  only  the 
smallest  specimens  were  used  as 
points  for  arrows,  and  the  great 
majority  were  simply  knives.  It  is 
obviously  impossible  to  determine 
now  the  precise  character  of  many 
intermediate  sizes  of  these  objects, 
but,  in  some  instances,  examples 
have  been  found  under  circum 
stances  which  at  once  set  aside  all 
doubt,  so  far,  at  least,  as  these 
specimens  are  concerned. 

Fig.  256  represents  an  instance 
of  this  kind.  We  have  here  a  water- 
worn  fragment  of  a  human  frontal 
bone  that  has  been  pierced  by  a 
quartz  arrowhead.  The  specimen 
tells  its  own  story.  In  this  fragment 
of  bone,  with  the  arrowhead  still 
sticking  in  it,  we  have  the  use  of 
the  bow,  the  tipping  of  the  arrow's 
shaft  with  stone,  the  custom  of 
war,  —  all  told  us  in  a  clear,  un 
mistakable  way.  Could  we  but  find 

FIG.  256.  —  New  Jersey.    4«  .... 

more  examples  of  the  various  pat 
terns  of  stone  implements  in  such  telling  positions,  we  should  then 
more  clearly  realize  the  character  of  the  daily  lives  of  the  native  races 
of  America  in  prehistoric  times. 

Although  it  is  not  practicable  to  trace  any  development  of  the  more 


284 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 


FIG.  257. — New  Jersey. 


elaborate  patterns  of  arrowheads  from  pointed  flakes,  yet  it  will  be 
found  advantageous  to  consider  first  the  simpler  forms,  with  the  under 
standing  that  there  is  no  evidence  that  any  one 
form  of  highly  finished  arrowhead  antedates  an 
other.  It  is  probable,  however,  that  simple 
pointed  flakes  were  first  used,  and  that  the 
various  modifications  and  elaboration  of  de 
tails  were  subsequent  to  the  first  arming  of  an 
arrow  with  a  sharp  fragment  of  stone. 

In  figs.  257,  258  and 
259  are  represented  flakes 
of  the  simplest  patterns, 
which  are  supposed  to  have  been  arrowheads. 
These,  and  others  altogether  similar,  have  been 
so  frequently  found  singly,  and  yet  are  so  evi 
dently  artificially  chipped,  that  there  need  be  no 
hesitation  in  considering  them  as  being  of  human 
origin.  The  fact  of  their  being  found  singly  is 
evidence  also,  that  they  were  implements  and 
not  merely  refuse  chips  flaked  off  in  the  man 
ufacture  of  other  objects. 
Some  such  forms  were 
doubtlessly  used  to  point 
the  first  arrows  made  by 
man ;  but  these  specimens  bear  no  evidence  of 
a  greater  antiquity  than  the  modern  Indian. 

In  the  rock-retreat  discovered  at  Chickies, 
Lancaster  Co.,  Pa.,  by  the  late  Professor  Halde- 
man,  in  1876,  there  was  found  an  unusually 
large  number  of  rude  flakes  of  the  patterns 
here  figured,  which  had  apparently  been  selected 
from  the  mass  of  chips  which  had  accumulated 
during  the  process  of  making  better  finished  specimens.  These 
"arrowhead-like  flakes"  were  apparently  set  aside  as  available  for 


FIG.  258.  —  New 
Jersey,    y. 


FIG.  259. — New  Jersey, 


SPEARPOINTS    AND    ARROWHEADS. 


arrows,  or  were  intended  to  be  subsequently  chipped  into  other  and 
better  forms.  To  a  certain  extent  they  might  have  been  used  as  knives, 
and  they  recall  the  remark  of  the  early  traveller  Kalm,  who  said  of  the 
Delaware  Indians,  "instead  of  knives  they  were  satisfied  with  little  sharp 
pieces  of  flint  or  quartz,  or  else  some  other  hard  kind  of  stone,  or 
with  a  sharp  shell,  or  with  a  piece  of  a  bone  which  they  had  sharp 
ened." 

In  fig.  260  we  have  a  more  specialized  form,  and  one  that  is  exceed 
ingly  common.  That  it  should  be  classed  as  an  arrowhead  is  reason 
able,  even  though  it  is  by  no  means  as  desirable  a  pattern  as  many 
others.  When  made  of  jasper  or  quartz,  arrowheads 
of  this  form  are  generally  much  more  carefully 
worked,  and  present  smoother  surfaces  and  more 
evenly  chipped  edges. 

Arrowheads  of  this  shape,  made  of  slate  and  other 
comparatively  soft  stone,  and  a  few  of  argillite,  are 
also  found  in  New  Jersey.  In  some  localities  they 
are  very  abundant,  and  even  outnumber  the  jasper 
specimens.  In  consequence  of  the  characteristic 
rude  finish  of  them  all,  and  the  degree  of  weathering 
of  their  surfaces,  which  is  to  some  extent  an  indica 
tion  of  antiquity,  these  ruder  specimens  of  stemmed 
arrowheads,  like  fig.  260,  give  rise  to  the  impression 
that  they  are,  as  a  class,  really  older  than  the  same 
forms  made  of  silicious  mineral.  This,  however,  may  not  be  the 
case,  and  it  is  as  yet  uncertain,  whether  the  Indian  made  a  step  in 
advance  by  adopting  a  material  for  the  manufacture  of  his  weapons 
more  difficult  to  work  than  slate  or  argillite,  but  affording  far  better 
results  to  the  skilled  workman. 

I  believe  the  evidence  to  be  complete,  that  the  race  preceding  the 
Indians  used  argillite  invariably  for  all  their  implements,  but  the  few 
facts  that  seem  to  indicate  progress  on  the  part  of  the  Indian,  during 
his  occupancy  of  the  Atlantic  coast,  are,  of  themselves,  insufficient  to 
warrant  our  basing  any  conclusions  upon  them. 


FIG.  260. —  New 
Jersey.    \. 


286 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


Fig.  261  represents  a  second  form  of  stemmed  arrowhead,  which  is 
of  better  workmanship,  and  foreshadows  the  elaborate  patterns  that 
were  in  common  use,  after  the  art  of  working  in  flint  had  been  carried 
to  perfection.  If  the  one  object,  in  making  arrowheads,  was  to  secure 
that  shape  of  point  which  would  convert  the  completed  arrow  into  the 
most  effective  weapon,  then  the  simple,  triangular  specimens,  with 
moderately  concave  bases,  would  meet  the  purpose  ;  and  in  fact,  we  do 
find  this  simple  and  effective  form  more  abundant  than  any  ether, 
but  so  many  intricate  forms  are  also  found  that  it  will  always  be  a 
source  of  wonder,  and  a  subject  of  endless  controversy,  why  such 
simple  objects  should  have  been  fashioned  in  so  many  curious  shapes. 

Fig.  262  represents  a  neatly  chipped  arrowhead,  usually  of  jasper, 


FIG.  261. —  New 
Jersey,    -f. 


FIG.  262. — New 
Jersey    -', . 


FIG.  263.  —  New 
Jersey.     -}. 


which  may  be  taken  as  a  typical  example  of  that  form,  known  as  the 
arrowhead  with  a  "notched  base."  A  large  proportion  of  the  arrow 
heads  found  along  the  northern  Atlantic  seaboard  are  of  this  form, 
though  it  is  not  in  such  abundance  as  to  be  considered  peculiar  to  this 
portion  of  the  continent.  Arrowheads  of  this  pattern  vary  greatly  in 
size,  and  when  much  longer  than  fig.  262  are  not  distinguishable  from 
knives,  and,  possibly,  spearpoints. 

Fig.  263  represents  a  longer,  but  narrower  example  of  this  form 
which  is  of  equally  common  occurrence.  Throughout  New  England, 
arrowheads  identical  with  this  are  very  common,  and  it  may  be  con 
sidered  as  one  of  the  characteristic  forms  north  of  the  Connecticut 
valley. 


SPEARPOINTS   AND    ARROWHEADS. 


287 


FIG.  264.  —  New 
Jersey.    -J-. 


Figs.  264  and  265  represent  beautiful  specimens  of  the  smallest  size 
of  arrowheads,  both  of  this  pattern  with  the  notched  base.  It  is  an 
unusual  circumstance  to  find  arrowheads  of  this  size  along  the  Atlantic 
seaboard,  or  indeed  anywhere  east  of  the  Alleghany  Mts.  In  Ohio 
and  Indiana,  they  seem  to  be  more  abundant.  As  a  rule,  the  smallest 
arrowheads  found  along  the  coast  are  triangular  in  shape.  Of  several 
thousand  specimens  of  all  shapes,  there  are  less  than 
a  dozen  of  this  pattern,  that  are  as  small  as  fig.  264, 
and  no  other  specimen  has  been  collected  by  the 
author,  as  small  as  fig.  265.  As  with  the  very  small 
scrapers,  these  diminutive  arrowheads  are  chipped 
with  great  nicety,  and  are  among  the  finest  examples 
of  this  kind  of  work  that  have  been  found  on  the 
Atlantic  seaboard. 

Their  size  is  apparently  an  objection  to  their  ordi 
nary  use  as  arrowheads,  and  so  few  have  been  found,  that  it  is  not 
likely  they  were  made  for  ordinary  hunting  or  warlike  purposes.  Still, 
we  find  on  comparing  them  with  modem  stone  and  glass  arrowheads, 
and  especially  with  the  beautiful  obsidian  specimens  found  in  the 
southwestern  territories  and  the  agate  examples  found  in  Oregon, 
that  they  are  about  of  the  same  size.  Arrowheads  of 
this  size  constitute  but  a  very  small  proportion  of  the 
whole  number  found ;  probably  not  more  than  one  in  a 
thousand.  That  they  are  really  more  abundant  may  be 
true,  and  their  apparent  rarity  due  to  the  fact  that  their 
diminutive  size  renders  them  more  liable  to  be  lost  in 
sandy  soil,  and  to  be  broken,  if  lying  in  loose  gravel. 
Unless  of  some  bright  color,  such  small  arrowheads  as 
fig.  265  are  very  inconspicuous  objects. 

Fig.  266  represents  a  remarkably  true  and  carefully  worked  example 
of  an  arrowhead  with  a  notch  at  the  base.  Specimens  as  carefully 
chipped  as  this  are  now  seldom  found,  except  in  a  fragmentary  condi 
tion.  From  the  extreme  care  with  which  the  edges  have  been  worked, 
it  is  possible  that  this  implement  was  used  as  a  knife.  It  is  made  of 


FIG.  265.  —  Ne\ 
Jersey.     \. 


288 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 


light  brown  or  yellowish-brown  jasper,  which  occurs  in  great  abundance 
as  bowlders  and  pebbles,  in  the  Delaware  river.  Of  this  material,  all 
the  finest  examples  of  flint  work,  found  in  New  Jersey  and  in  New 
England,  are  made. 

Fig.  267  represents  a  somewhat  similar  specimen,  except  that  it  is 
much  narrower.  Unlike  the  generality  of  these  worked  flint  im 
plements,  this  specimen  is  a  thin  flake  of  chalcedony,  without 
surface  chippings  and  only  altered  along  the  edges,  so  as  to  give 
it  a  symmetrical  outline.  This  handsome  specimen,  also,  may  have 


FlG.  266.  —  New 


FIG.  267.  —  New 
Jersey.     {. 


FIG.  268.  — New 
Jersey.     |. 


been  used  as  a  knife,  but  it  is  as  probable  that  it  is  properly  classed 
as  an  arrowhead. 

Fig.  268  represents  a  modified  form  of  this  same  pattern,  in  which 
the  sides  are  parallel  for  one-half  their  length,  and  then  slope  evenly, 
by  straight  margins  to  an  acute  point.  Like  fig.  266,  this  specimen  is 
chipped  from  a  jasper  pebble,  and  is  of  equally  artistic  workmanship. 

Arrowheads  of  this  pattern  are  not  abundant  in  New  Jersey,  and  are 
very  rarely  found  in  New  England.  In  western  New  York,  they  are 
occasionally  found,  and  are  of  more  common  occurrence  in  Ohio  and 
Indiana.  The  late  Professor  Haldeman  found  but  three  specimens 
during  several  years  careful  collecting  in  the  valley  of  the  Susquehanna. 

All  the  arrowheads  of  this  pattern,  that  I  have  seen,  appear  to  be 
of  the  same  grade  of  workmanship,  and  of  the  one  material.  That 


SPEARPOINTS   AND   ARROWHEADS. 


289 


FIG.  269.  — New 
Jersey.    |. 


they  possess  any  advantage  from  the  peculiar  finish  of  the  edges  seems 

very  questionable,  but  that  they  were  arrowheads  cannot  be  doubted. 
In  figs.  269  to  273,  inclusive,  is  represented  a 

second  form  of  arrowheads,  that  is  almost  as  com 
mon  as  the  preceding.     Instead  of  the   notched 

base,  they  have  a  straight  stem,  and  vary  among 

themselves  indefinitely,  as  to  the  relative  length  and 

breadth  of  both  the  stem  and  the  blade.     Fig.  269 

may  be  taken  as  a  type  of  this  pattern,  as  the  great 

majority  of  these  arrowheads  have  the  edges  slightly 
convex.  While  perhaps  a  ma 
jority  of  them  are  carefully 
chipped,  there  is  a  very  large  proportion  that  are 
rudely  made.  Apparently,  the  workman  ceased 
to  bestow  any  care  in  finishing  the  implement 
when  he  had  once  obtained  a  sharp  point. 

In  every  large  series  of  stemmed  arrowheads, 
there  will  be  a  small  percentage  as  pronounced 
in  pattern  as  figs.  271  and  272,  but  generally 
they  more  nearly  approach  figs.  270  and  273. 

Fig.  272  is  a  rare  form  of  stemmed  arrowhead, 
that  is  of  common  oc 
currence   in    Europe. 

In   the  Clement  collection  of  Swiss  Lake 

stone    implements    in    the    Archaeological 

Museum   at  Cambridge,  Mass.,  there   are 

many  specimens  that  are  of  this  size  and 

shape.     Others  are  contained  in  the  Rose 

collection  of  Danish  antiquities,  belonging 

to  the  same  museum. 

Fig.  273  represents  about  the  minimum 

size  of  these  stemmed  arrowheads.    Imple 
ments  of  this  size  appear  to  be  in  larger  proportion  in  some  localities 
19 


FIG.  270.  —  New 
Jersey.    {. 


FlG.  271.  —  New  Jersey.    -J-. 


290 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 


than  in  others,   but  they  are  not  in  such  numbers  as  to  justify  the 
belief  that  they  were  ever  in  very  general  use. 

In  the  very  large  series  of  arrowheads  from  the  valley  of  the  Sus- 
quehanna,  contained  in  the  collection  of  the  late  Professor  Haldeman, 
are  hundreds  of  specimens  of  this  pattern,  varying  in  outline  to  about 
the  extent  illustrated  in  the  series  of  specimens  here 
figured.    As    shown   by  the   material  gathered  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Columbia,  Pa.,  it  would  appear  that 
these  stemmed   specimens  were   more  abundant  than 
any  other  form,  not  excepting  those  with  a  notched 
base. 

The  various  patterns  of  varieties  of  stemmed  arrow 
heads,  'that  are  here  figured,  all  occur  in  abundance  in 
New  England  and  New  York  ;   yet  in  but  few  limited 
FIG.  272.  — New     localities  are  they  found  in  such  great  abundance  as  in 

the  valleys  of  the  Delaware  and  Susquehanna  rivers. 
Fig.  274  represents  a  splendidly  chipped  implement  which  may  be 
out  of  place  in  association  with  arrowheads,  though  it  cannot  certainly 
be  classed  either  with  the  spearpoints  or  knives. 

While  an  unusual  pattern  in  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania,  and  of 
even  greater  rarity  throughout  New  England,  specimens  of  this  shape  are 
recorded  from  most  of  the  northern  Atlantic  coast 
states.    In  New  York  they  have  been  found  in  the 
valleys  of  the  Mohawk  and  the  Hudson,  and  on  the 
shore  of  several  of  the  inland  lakes.     In  Ohio,  they 
are  much  more  common.     Of  all  that  have  been  ex 
amined  the  workmanship  is  excellent,  and  only  the 
choicest  materials  have  been  chosen  in  making  them. 
The  very  deep  lateral  notches  seem  to  indicate  that  a 
very  secure  hold  to  the  shaft  or  handle  was  required,  and  that  the 
implement,  thus  fastened,  was  intended  for  serious  work,  such  as  would 
put  a  great  strain  upon  it.     So  seldom  are  these  large  arrowheads,  or 
knives,  met  with  along  the  seaboard,  as  compared  with  Ohio  and  the 
southwestern  states,  that  it  is  probable  that  all  that  have  been  found  in 


FIG.  27-?.  —  New 
Jersey.     j. 


SPEARPOINTS   AND   ARROWHEADS. 


29I 


New  England  and  New  Jersey  were  brought  from  the  interior  states, 
as  was  probably  the  case  with  many  of  the  large  spearpoints  of  finer 
finish.  Some  doubt,  however,  is  thrown  upon  this  suggestion  by  the  fact 
that  there  have  been  found  a  small  number  of  delicately  chipped  arrow 
heads  of  small  size,  of  precisely  this  pattern.  These  arrowheads  were 
made  of  yellow  jasper,  and  found  in  a  field  near  Princeton,  New  Jersey, 
associated  with  dozens  of  other  patterns. 

I  have  also  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing  in  a  very  complete  local 
collection  of  stone  implements,  made  in  the  neighborhood  of  Lake 
Hopatcong,  Morris  Co.,  New  Jersey,  three  specimens  of  these  imple 
ments  of  the  same  size  as  fig.  274,  and 
all   made  of  a  beautiful  green  jasper. 
The  workmanship  was  excellent.     They 
were  found  together  near  the  shore  of 
the  lake,  and  in  the  immediate  vicinity 
were  found  seven  copper  beads  and  a 
fine   chalcedony  spearpoint.     It  is  not 
improbable  that  all  these  objects  had 
been  washed  from  a  grave. 

This  form  of  arrowhead  or  knife  does 
not  occur  in  Europe,  so  far  as  I  can 
learn.  Evans,  in  his  elaborate  volume 
on  the  "Stone  Implements  of  Great 
Britain,"  figures  nothing  that  bears  any 
resemblance  to  this  form.  All  the  larger  spearpoints  and  arrowheads 
of  England  appear  to  be  of  the  stemmed,  or  stemmed  and  barbed 
patterns. 

Figs.  275  and  276  represent  two  excellent  examples  of  a  pattern  of 
arrowhead  or  small  spearpoint,  which  is  very  frequently  found  in  New 
Jersey.  They  vary  indefinitely  in  size,  from  the  larger  of  the  two  fig 
ured  to  others  that  are  considerably  smaller  than  fig.  275.  This  form 
is  one  of  a  few  that  appears  to  be  every  way  desirable,  and  yet  it  is  not 
as  abundant  as  some  others.  When  made  of  jasper,  thin,  and  with  a 
good  edge,  it  would  be  difficult  to  design  a  better  weapon  than  fig. 


FIG.  274.  —  New  Jersey. 


292 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


276.  The  stem  is  of  such  shape  and  size  as  to  render  a  secure  attach 
ment  to  the  shaft  easily  practicable,  and  with  a  moderate  exercise  of 
force,  a  most  ugly  wound  could  be  inflicted  with  this  implement. 

In  fig.  276  we  have  an  implement  that  bears  considerable  resem 
blance  to  the  specimen  described  in  the  preceding  paragraph  (fig.  274). 
By  merely  widening  the  base  of  the  stem  of  fig.  276,  we  convert  it 
into  the  pattern  of  fig.  274.  Thus,  while  possibly  both  are  too  large  to 
be  used  as  arrowheads,  they  were  probably  used  in  the  same  manner, 
either  as  spears  or  knives. 

Implements  of  this  pattern,  as  large  as  fig.  276,  are  not  frequently 
found  in  New  England,  even  in  the 
Connecticut  valley  where    so    large 


FIG.  275.  —  New  Jersey. 


FIG.  276.  —  New  Jersey 


a  variety  of  forms  have  been  obtained.  In  western  New  York 
they  are  more  abundant  than  in  the  Hudson  river  valley;  while  in 
Pennsylvania,  although  recorded  in  few  numbers  in  some  localities, 
they  were  poorly  represented  in  the  collection  from  the  Susquehanna 
valley,  made  by  the  late  Professor  Haldeman.  From  a  field  of  a 
few  acres,  near  Trenton,  New  Jersey,  I  gathered  twenty  specimens 
of  this  form  in  the  summer  of  1878,  and  six  more  in  the  ensuing 
year.  Other  specimens  were  also  found  which  I  have  failed  to  se 
cure.  In  every  case  these  implements  were  made  of  jasper,  either 
red  or  yellow,  and  are  among  the  best  specimens  of  flint  chipping 


SPEARPOINTS  AND  ARROWHEADS. 


293 


in  my  collections  from  New  Jersey,  now  in  the  Archaeological  Museum 
at  Cambridge,  Mass. 

Barbed  arrowheads,  like  figs.  277  and 
278,  are  not  uncommon  wherever  arrow 
heads  of  any  pattern  are  found.  Barbs 
can  be  added  to  almost  all  the  types,  and 
seem  to  be  the  result  of  fancy  on  the  part 
of  the  maker.  The  examination  of  broken 
specimens,  among  the  refuse  of  chips  of 
an  arrowmaker's  "shop,"  does  not  indi 
cate  that  they  were  ever  very  abundant; 
and  nowhere  do  we  find  a  preponderance 
of  this  pattern.  When  the  barbs  were  FIG.  277.- New  jersey.  |. 
related  to  the  stem,  as  in  fig.  277,  it  is  difficult  to  see  of  what  practical 
use  they  were,  as  they  could  not  add  to  the  effectiveness  of  the 
weapon.  On  the  other  hand,  when  they  were  associated  with  straight, 
stem-like  bases,  as  in  fig.  2  78,  it  is  evident  that  when  once  they  had 
been  shot  or  thrust  into  a  body,  they  could 
not  readily  be  removed,and  hence  in  war, 
they  would  be  more  deadly  than  such  as  could 
be  promptly  withdrawn  from  the  wound. 

Arrowheads,  that  are  distinctly  barbed,  do 
not  appear  to  be  of  more  common  occur 
rence  in  the  western  and  southern  states,  than 
along  the  Atlantic  seaboard.  On  the  Pacific 
coast,  while  not  unknown,  they  are  rare.  Of 
the  series  collected  in  the  small  islands  off 
the  coast  of  California,  by  the  officers  of  the 
U.  S.  Geog.  Survey,  West  of  the  looth 
Meridian,  there  is  but  a  single  specimen. 
(Vol.  vii,  Archaeology,  pi.  iii,  fig.  i.) 

Of  a  series  of  nearly  thirty-three  hundred 
arrowheads,  collected  in  a  single  county  in  New  Jersey,  but  fifty-six 
are  distinctly  barbed,  and  probably  this  is  as  large  a  proportion  as 


FIG.  278.  — New  Jersey. 


294  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

occurs  anywhere  along  the  seaboard.  Of  thousands  of  specimens 
from  the  Connecticut  valley,  the  percentage  of  those  that  are  distinctly 
barbed  is  not  as  large  as  in  the  New  Jersey  series. 

In  Europe,  the  barbed  arrowhead  is  a  prevailing  type,  almost  num 
bering  one-half  the  specimens  found  in  many  localities.  Of  a  series 
of  seventy-two  arrowheads  from  Great  Britain,  figured  by  Mr.  Evans, 
twenty-eight  are  distinctly  barbed.  Some  of  them  have  the  barbs  of 
remarkable  length,  and  terminating  in  blunt  ends.  This  latter  feature 
is  almost  unknown  among  American  flint  arrowheads,  and  never,  I 
believe,  occurs  in  the  various  forms  common  to  the  Atlantic  seaboard. 

That  form  of  arrowhead  which  is  a  modification  of  the  barbed,  and 
known  generally  as  the  triple-notched  arrowhead,  is  one  of  quite  com- 


X-^r 

FIG.  279.  —  New  FIG.  280.  —  New  FIG.  281.  —  New 

Jersey.    }.  Jersey.     |>  Jersey.    ^-. 

mon  occurrence  in  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania  and  Delaware,  and  also 
in  Connecticut,  but  is  unusual  in  Massachusetts  and  more  northern 
localities.  As  seen  in  the  accompanying  illustrations,  the  specimens 
of  this  pattern  vary  considerably  in  form  and  size. 

Figs.  279  and  280  represent  the  more  common  sizes;  fig.  279  the 
minimum,  whilst  the  curiously  designed  specimen,  fig.  281,  seems  too 
blunt  to  be  classed  as  an  arrowhead,  and  ought  rather  to  be  classed  as 
a  knife ;  though  in  this  case  it  is  very  difficult  to  imagine  any  object 
in  the  prominent  side  barbs. 

The  great  majority  of  these  triple-notched  arrowheads  are  of  quartz 
and  jasper,  and,  as  a  rule,  are  well  made.  Two  of  the  five  illustrations, 


SPEARPOIXTS  AND   ARROWHEADS. 


295 


FIG.  282. —  New 
Jersey.    |. 


here  given,  are  distinctly  serrated,  but  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  such 
a  large  proportion  is  usual ;  nevertheless  the  majority  of  the  arrow 
heads  with  distinctly  serrated  edges  are  of  this 
pattern. 

In  a  large  series  of  arrowheads  collected  in 
the  state  of  Delaware,  and  kindly  forwarded  to 
me  for  examination  by  the  owner,  Mr.  T.  J. 
Bennett  of  Dover,  Delaware,  there  was  a  large 
number  of  specimens  of  this  pattern,  all  of 
which  were  made  of  jasper.  Many  had  the 
edges  distinctly  serrated. 

The  late  Professor  Haldeman  found  this  pat 
tern  to  be  quite  well  represented   in  the  ex 
tensive  series  of  arrowheads  collected  near 
Chickies,   Lancaster  Co.,   Pa.,  and  noticed  the  large  proportion  of 
serrated  specimens  among  them.     The  majority  of  these  specimens, 

however,  were  similar  in  size  and  finish, 
to  fig.  282. 

Fig.  283,  of  the  series  here  given,  is 
apparently  too  large  to  be  classed  as  an 
arrowhead.  The  serrated  edges,  how 
ever,  seem  to  suggest  this  use,  rather 
than  that  of  a  knife  ;  and  it  is  scarcely 
large  enough  to  be  classed  as  a  spear- 
point. 

Triangular  arrowheads  are  of  every 
imaginable  shade  of  width  and  length, 
and  in  workmanship  they  vary  from  the 
rudest  to  the  most  exquisitely  chipped 
specimens.  As  is  the  case  with  so  many 
other  kinds  of  implements,  there  will 
often  arise  a  doubt  as  to  whether  all  these  specimens,  varying  as  they 
do  in  form  and  size,  were  used  for  the  same  purpose.  It  seems  un 
questionable  that  figs.  284  and  285  were  arrowheads.  Their  size, 


FIG.  283.  — New  Jersey.    -{-. 


296 


PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 


shape  and,  it  may  be  added,  their  abundance,  all  indicate  it ;  but  this 
may  be  doubted  when  we  come  to  consider  such  an  example  as  fig. 
288.  This,  however,  is  not  too  large  for  an  arrowhead ;  and,  until  it 
can  be  shown  that  specimens  of  this  size  were  otherwise  utilized,  it 
seems  safe  to  class  it  as  such,  though  one  of  the  largest  size. 

When  long  and  slender,  like  figs.  284  and  287,  these  implements  are 
certainly  admirably  adapted  for  tips  to  the  shafts  of  arrows,  and  being 
so  largely  made  of  black  flint  or  chert,  they  recall  forcibly  the  words 
of  Holm  that  "the  head  of  the  arrow  *  *  *  is  made  of  a  black  flint 
stone." 

Of  the  triangular  arrowheads  found  in  New  Jersey,  but  very  few 
have  been  found  which  have  serrated  edges,  and 
all  of  these  were  of  the 
smallest  size  of  this   pat- 


FIG.  284.  —  New  Jersey.  {.          FIG.  285.  — New  Jersey.  -J-.        FIG.  286.  — New  Jersey.   -J-. 

tern,  several  being  even  smaller  than  fig.  286. 

There  is  a  prevalent  opinion  concerning  arrowheads  of  this  pattern, 
that  they  were  used  almost  exclusively  for  "war  arrows,"  and  were 
usually  poisoned.  Upon  what  grounds  this  opinion  is  based  I  have  not 
been  able  to  learn,  except  that  it  has  been  suggested  that  these  points 
or  heads  were  placed  loosely  in  a  slit  on  the  end  of  the  shaft,  and  so 
would  be  retained  in  the  body  of  the  person  shot,  however  carefully 
the  shaft  might  be  withdrawn.  How  far  this  may  be  true  is  difficult 
to  determine,  but  it  is  highly  improbable  that  any  one  form  of  these 
implements  should  have  been  designed  or  set  aside  for  any  particular 
purpose.  In  New  Jersey  there  is  no  known  locality  where  these  are 
found  unassociated  with  other  forms,  and  if  "war"  points,  they  should 


SPEARPOINTS   AND    ARROWHEADS. 


297 


in  some  localities  be  a  marked  feature  of  ancient  battle-fields,  several 
of  which  are  supposed  to  be  known  to  the  local  his 
torians,  and  even  to  the  collectors  of  Indian  relics. 

In  figs.  289  to  293  inclusive,  we  have  examples  of 
short,  broad  triangular  arrowheads,  such  as  occur  in 
even  greater  numbers  than  the  preceding.     When  of 
this  size  and  shape,  they  are  often  carelessly  chipped, 
the   absence  of  a  sharp  point   being  very  noticeable. 
Their  bluntness   is   not   caused   by  the    loss  of  these 
points,  but  was  evidently  pro 
duced    intentionally.      Occa 
sionally  these  triangular  arrow 
heads  have  two  notches  near 
the  ends  of  the  base,  thus  making  the  imple 
ment   one   of   the    barbed   pattern  (see   fig. 
309).     Whenever  these  notches   occur,  they 
are   invariably  associated   with   a   style   of 
chipping    much    superior   to   that   upon   the 
specimens  here  figured.     The  peculiar  needle- 
like  point  on  fig.  292  is  not  an  accident,  but 
was   deliberately   chipped   out.      Of  a    large 
series  of  these    broad    triangular    specimens 
from  New  Jersey,   there  were  many  with  this  peculiarity;  and  the 


FIG.  287.  —  New 
Jersey.    T. 


FIG.  288.  — New  Jersey,    -f. 


"x^  v_.y  \B^^> *^-^^r-ii^» 

FiG.  289.  —  New  Jersey.    y.         FIG.  290.  —  New  Jersey,    y.          FlG.  291. —  New  Jersey,    y. 

same  was  noted  as  occurring  on  a  series  of  the  same  pattern  from  the 
Connecticut  valley. 

Of  a  series  of  thirty-three  hundred  arrowheads  from  Mercer  county, 


298 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 


FIG.  292.  —  New 
Jersey.    -J-. 


New  Jersey,  to  which  reference  has  been  made,  fourteen  hundred  and 
twenty-eight  belong  to  the  triangular  pattern.  This  shows  how  very 
common  it  was,  and  proves  clearly  that,  among  all  the 
various  patterns  of  arrowheads,  this  was  emphatically 
the  favorite  form. 

The  proportion  of  triangular  to  other  shapes  of 
arrowheads  is  less  in  New  England,  than  in  the 
middle  states,  judging  from  the  collections  preserved 
in  the  public  museums  ;  and  in  Pennsylvania  they  are 
also  less  common  than  in  New  Jersey,  so  far  as  the 
collections  of  the  late  Professor  Haldeman,  of  the  Susquehanna  valley 
forms,  and  of  my  own,  of  the  Delaware  valley  patterns,  enable  one  to 
make  a  comparison. 

Considered  as  a  class,  these  triangular 
arrowheads  will  not  compare  favorably  with 
those  of  the  same  pattern  found  in  Ohio  and 
Indiana.  From  various  localities  in  these 
states,  are  derived  most  marvellous  specimens 
of  skilful  chipping  of  flint,  which  in  some 
cases  is  only  equalled  by  the  finest  specimens 
of  Danish  arrowheads  of  the  same  pattern. 

Figs.  294  and  295  represent  two  ir 
regularly  shaped  triangular  arrowheads 
which  differ  from  the  preceding,  in  having 
concave  bases.  This  feature  is  much 
more  marked  in  some  specimens  than  in 
those  figured ;  in  some  cases,  being  not 
a  curved  indentation,  but  rather  like  an 
inverted  V. 

In  fig.  295  we  have  a  modified  form  of 
the  triangular  pattern,  which  is  so  rude, 
that  at.  first  it  might  be  considered  an 
unfinished  implement ;  but  so  many  are  found  of  exactly  this  shape 
that  it  is  probably  an  intentional  and  not  a  chance  form. 


FIG.  293.  — New  Jersey.    -J-. 


FIG.  294.  —  New  Jersey.    -J-. 


SPEARPOINTS   AND   ARROWHEADS. 


299 


FlG.  295.  — New 
Jersey.    |. 


Of  the  ordinary  form  of  triangular  arrowheads,  with  a  concave  base, 
such  as  fig.  294,  there  appears  to  be  a  varying  number  as  compared 
with  those  that  have  a  straight  base,  as  they  occur  in  different  locali 
ties.  In  central  New  Jersey,  they  constitute  but  a  small  proportion, 
in  Pennsylvania  they  outnumber  the  others,  while 
in  New  England  they  are  about  equally  divided. 
While  the  whole  subject  is  merely  a  matter  of 
conjecture,  I  am  led  to  believe,  from  the  circum 
stances  under  which  many  of  these  relics  are 
found,  and  also  their  numbers  in  many  localities, 
which  bear  evidence  of  great  antiquity,  that  the 
triangular  pattern  is  the  original  form  of  arrow 
head,  if  there  ever  was  such  a  thing.  Attention 
has  already  been  called  to  various  forms  of  flakes 
that  were  probably  used  for  tipping  the  shafts  of  arrows.  Flakes  of 
themselves  would  soon  be  found  to  be  inconvenient  from  the  fact  of 
their  irregularity  of  outline,  and  an  attempt  to  reduce  them  to  a 
symmetrical  shape  would  soon  be  made,  and  the  first  efforts  in  this 
direction  were  apparently  to  make  a  shapely  tri 
angular  point  for  the  arrowshaft.  The  oldest  jasper 
arrowheads  I  have  found  in  New  Jersey  were  simply 
flakes,  with  such  secondary  chipping  as  was  required 
to  make  them  triangular;  and  the  oldest  speci 
mens,  apparently,  of  the  series  collected  by  the  late 
Professor  Haldeman,  in  the  valley  of  the  Susque- 
hanna,  Pa.,  gave  that  archaeologist  the  same  im 
pression,  as  stated  to  the  writer. 

A  well-marked  and  very  handsome  pattern  of 
arrowhead  is  the  long  triangular  with  convex  base.  In  this  form  they 
are  well  known  as  the  leaf- shaped  arrowheads,  and  constitute  a  con 
siderable  proportion  of  the  whole  number  found. 

Fig.  296  represents  a  poorly  finished  specimen,  which  is  here  intro 
duced  as  a  "connecting  link"  between  the  triangular  specimens,  and 
such  as  are  distinctly  curved  at  the  base. 


FIG.  296.  —  New 
Jersey,     -f. 


3°° 


PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 


Fig.  297  more  nearly  approaches  the  typical  examples  of  this  form 
of  arrowhead,  given  in  the  succeeding  figures. 

Figs.  298  to  300,  inclusive,  represent  good  average  specimens  of 
this  implement.  A  small  proportion  of  the  whole  number  found  are 
somewhat  larger  than  the  specimens  here  figured,  and  occasionally  we 
meet  with  one  which  is  considerably  smaller  than  fig.  299,  but  these 
larger  and  smaller  specimens  are  so  few  in  number,  as  scarcely  to  affect 
the  statement  that  in  size,  as  well  as  finish,  those  figured  fairly  repre 
sent  the  whole  series. 

Whether  made  of  quartz  or  jasper,  arrowheads  of  this  pattern  are, 


FIG.  297.  —  New 
Jersey.    -J-. 


FIG.  298.  — New 
Jersey.    |. 


FIG.  299.  —  New 
Jersey,     j- 


FIG.  300.  — New 
Jersey.    -J-. 


as  a  rule,  very  carefully  chipped,  and  many  are  still  very  sharply  pointed. 
Few  specimens  of  flint  chipping  are  more  delicate  than  the  white  quartz 
example,  fig.  300 ;  which  still  retains  its  original  point,  and  sharp  cut 
ting  edges. 

Though  this  form  of  arrowhead  differs  very  materially  in  numbers,  in 
the  various  river  valleys,  throughout  the  New  England  and  middle 
states,  yet  it  cannot  be  considered  a  rare  form.  In  some  limited  local 
ities  it  reaches  fully  to  seven  per  cent,  of  all  found. 

The  leaf-shaped  arrowhead  occurs  throughout  the  southern  and 
western  states,  and  was  a  favorite  pattern  with  the  natives  of  the  islands 
off  the  coast  of  California  (U..  S.  Geol.  Survey,  west  of  looth  Meridian, 


SPEARPOINTS  AND   ARROWHEADS. 


301 


vol.  vii,  Archaeology,  pi.  iii),  and  is  found  also  along  the  Pacific  coast, 
northward  to  British  America. 

In  Europe  it  is  a  well  known  form.  Mr.  Evans  figures  a  large  series 
of  English  specimens,  none  of  which  differ  materially  from  the  Ameri 
can  forms.  He  includes,  however,  with  them,  those  that  are  pointed 
at  each  end.  It  is  doubtful  if  these  were  really  used  as  arrowheads. 
The  same  pattern  is  found  in  the  Atlantic  coast  states,  and  abundantly 
in  Ohio  and  the  southwest.  I  am  disposed  to  consider  them  as  knives. 

Lozenge-shaped  arrowheads,  as  they  are  generally  called,  are  simply 


FIG.  301.  — New 
Jersey.    |. 


FIG.  302.  — New 
Jersey.    |. 


FIG.  303.  —  Ne\ 
Jersey.    -J. 


FIG.  304.  —  New 
Jersey,    -f. 


modifications  of  the  leaf-shaped  pattern,  in  which  the  bases  are  angular 
instead  of  being  convex  in  outline.  Fig.  301  represents  an  example 
that  approaches  more  nearly  to  the  stemmed  arrowheads ;  and  fig.  302 
varies  but  little  from  a  typical  leaf-shaped  specimen.  In  figs.  303  to 
305  inclusive  we  have  typical  examples  of  the  true  lozenge-shaped 
specimens.  Between  these  forms  there  are  intermediate  patterns,  and 
a  closely  connected  series  can  readily  be  made,  which  extends  from 
specimens  as  pronounced  as  fig.  304  to  the  leaf-shaped  arrowheads  of 
the  foregoing  page. 


302 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 


Arrowheads  of  this  pattern  are  largely  confined  to  certain  localities, 
and  seem  to  be  wholly  wanting  over  very  extended  districts.  In  the 
Susquehanna  valley,  but  very  few  specimens  were  found  by  the  late 
Professor  Haldeman,  and  those  that  were  collected  were  generally  of 
such  large  size  as  to  suggest  the  knife  rather  than  the  arrowhead.  In 
the  Connecticut  valley,  this  form  is  nowhere  common,  and  less  than  a 
score  of  specimens,  from  northern  New  England,  are  in  the  collections 
of  the  Museum  of  Archaeology,  at  Cambridge,  Mass.  Of  a  series  of 
about  fifty  specimens  from  New  Jersey,  all  are  from 
one  limited  locality,  in  Gloucester  county,  except 
half  a  dozen  of  the  more  indefinite  pattern,  like 
fig.  302. 

It  is  not  improbable  that  the  great  majority  of 
these  lozenge-shaped  implements  were  really  used 
as  knives,  and  not  as  arrowheads.  In  many  re 
spects  they  resemble  what  are  known  to  be  chipped 
knives,  found  in  distant  localities,  as  in  California, 
and  the  shape  of  the  base  is  such  as  to  suggest 
that  they  were  inserted  into  a  broad  wooden 
handle,  instead  of  a  slender  reed.  In  this  case, 
as  in  all  others,  there  must  ever  be  a  doubt  as  to 
the  purpose  for  which  these  chipped  flints  were 
made ;  and  the  fact  borne  in  mind,  that  they  were 
not  confined  to  any  one  use.  So  far  as  they 
proved  available  as  knives,  doubtlessly  they  were  used  as  such,  and  the 
same  may  be  said  of  their  use  as  arrowheads. 

Arrowheads  with  distinctly  serrated  edges  are  not  abundant  either  in 
New  England  or  the  middle  states.  Slight  serrations,  such  as  occur 
on  some  roughly  chipped  specimens,  are  rather  frequent,  but  with  this 
exception,  they  are  comparatively  rare. 

Attention  has  already  been  called  to  another  pattern  of  arrowhead, 
which  is  frequently  serrated  along  the  sides,  and  which  constitutes  the  ma 
jority  of  the  serrated  examples  of  these  implements.  Other  forms  are 
also  met  with,  as  the  notched-based,  stemmed  and  barbed  arrowheads. 


FIG.  305.  — New 
Jersey.     }. 


SPEARPOINTS    AND    ARROWHEADS. 


303 


Fig.  306  represents  an  example  of  an  arrowhead,  with  finely  serrated 
edges,  of  the  so-called  notched-based  pattern.  Although  now  rather 
indistinct,  the  serrations  can  readily  be  traced  and  show  that  they  were 
intentionally  produced,  and  have  no  connection  with  the  chipping  of 
the  surfaces. 

Fig.  307  represents  an  ordinary  stemmed  arrowhead  with  serrated 
sides.  Examples  with  this  feature  so  marked  are  very  rarely  met  with 
along  the  Atlantic  coast.  I  have  seen  none  from  New  England  that 
were  as  distinctly  serrated,  and  but  three  specimens  from  the  Susque- 
hanna  valley. 

Fig.  308,  with  barbs  as  well  as  serrated  edges,  is  a  pattern  that  occurs 


FIG.  306.  —  New  Jersey.  \.        FIG.  307. —New  Jersey,   j.  FIG.  308.  —  Indiana.    7. 

but  rarely  anywhere.  In  New  Jersey,  but  few  examples  have  been 
found,  and  these  are  generally  broken.  In  New  England,  even  in  the 
Connecticut  valley,  they  are  rare.  The  specimen  here  figured  is  from 
Indiana. 

Of  American  arrowheads,  with  serrated  edges,  it  may  be  said  that 
they  do  not  form  a  class  of  themselves,  or  that  they  were  made  for  any 
particular  purpose.  The  art  of  chipping  flint,  so  as  to  produce  these 
tooth-like  projections,  was  not  sufficiently  well  understood  to  enable 


3°4 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


the  Indian  to  make  much  use  of  this  feature,  and  no  examples  of 
implements  with  such .  evenly  wrought  serrations  and  ripple-marked 
surfaces,  as  are  seen  on  arrowheads,  saws  and  daggers  of  flint,  found 
in  Denmark,  have  been  found  in  this  country,  or  at  least,  on  the 
Atlantic  coast  of  the  continent. 

Fig.  309  represents  a  form  of  arrowhead,  that  combines  the  charac 
teristic  features  of  several  other  patterns.  It  is,  in  fact,  a  triangular 
arrowhead,  with  barb-like  angles  at  the  base.  This  form,  also,  occurs 
frequently  with  serrated  edges. 

While  it  might  properly  have  been  de 
scribed  under  one  or  more  of  the  several 
divisions  of  arrowheads  mentioned  in  the 
preceding  pages,  it  is  here  placed  by  itself 
that  its  peculiarities,  which  are  very  marked, 
might  the  more  readily  be  recognized. 

Arrowheads  of  this   pattern    are    quite 

FIG    o   —New  Terse  abundant  in  many  limited  localities  in  New 

Jersey  and  Pennsylvania,  and  are  remark 
able  for  the  delicacy  of  the  chipping,  the  uniformity  of  size,  and  the 
fact  that  all  are  made  either  of  quartz  or  jasper,  the  former  mineral 
being  that  which  was  generally  used. 


TDK 


"UNIVERSITY 


CHAPTER     XX. 


FLINT  DAGGERS. 


THE  typical  chipped  flint  dagger,  which  is  such  a  characteristic  form 
of  implement  in  Denmark  and  throughout  northern  Europe,  is  of  com 
paratively  rare  occurrence  in  the  United  States,  and  particularly  so, 
along  the  northern  Atlantic  seaboard.  Of  the  various  patterns  of 
weapons  described  by  the  early  writers,  not  one  is  mentioned  as  being 
in  common  use  among  the  American  native  tribes  that  even  suggest 
the  dagger.  Long,  slender  spearpoints  are  supposed  to  have  been  used 
in  this  manner,  but  there  is  no  reason  why  the  term  "  dagger,"  as  now 
understood,  should  be  applied  to  them. 

The  class  of  objects  more  particularly  referred  to  in  the  present 
chapter  may  be  described  collectively  as  carefully  chipped  flint  imple 
ments  of  great  length  in  comparison  to  their  breadth,  acutely  pointed, 
occasionally  with  the  base  defined  by  hilt-like  projections,  and  the 
blade  quadrangular  or  oval  in  section. 

Daggers,  like  the  typical  European  examples  figured  by  Sir  John 
Lubbock,102  have  been  found  in  the  Ohio  valley.  In  the  museum  of 
the  Academy  of  Science,  at  Salem,  Mass.,  there  is  a  beautiful  specimen 
found  in  the  bed  of  Crosswicks  Creek,  Burlington  Co.,  New  Jersey, 
and  fragments  of  others  have  been  found  near  Easton,  Pa. 

Col.  C.  C.  Jones,  jr.,103  has  given  a  figure  and  description  of  a  beau 
tiful  specimen,  seven  and  one-half  inches  in  length.  In  this  specimen 
the  blade  is  separated  from  the  handle  by  barb-like  projections,  and 
the  end  of  the  handle  terminates  in  similar  barb-like  projections. 

Fig.  310  represents  a  dull  brown  jasper  implement  that  is  in  every 


102  Lubbock.    Pre-Historic  Times,  2nd  ed.,  p.  97,  figs.  115,  116  and  117.    London, 

103  Jones,  /.  c.,  p.  267,  pi.  vii,  fig.  3. 

20  (305) 


3°6 


PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 


particular  the  facsimile  of  dozens  in  the  magnificent  Rose  collection 
of  Danish  implements,  belonging  to  the  mu 
seum  of  Archaeology  at  Cambridge,  Mass. 
This  specimen  measures  nearly  seven  inches 
in  length,  and  nowhere  exceeds  an  inch  in 
width.  The  base  or  handle  is  as  acutely 
chipped  on  the  sides  as  the  blade  proper,  and 
is  too  sharp  to  have  been  held  in  the  naked 
hand.  A  handle  of  some  kind  was  necessary, 
though  its  shape  or  the  material  of  which  it 
was  made  is  not  known. 

The  magnificent  chert  implements  of  a 
dagger-like  character,  found  on  the  Pacific 
coast,  were  attached  to  handles  by  means  of 
asphaltum,  or  had  handles  made  of  this  ma 
terial.  Most  of  these  implements,  however, 
are  quite  thin  and  flat,  and  evidently  were 
not  put  to  any  severe  use.  Associated  with 
them,  however,  are  others  that  are  thick,  and 
distinctly  oval  in  section,  which  also  were 
hafted  with,  or  by  means  of  asphaltum  ;  and 
it  is  by  no  means  improbable  that  some  gum 
or  resin  was  used  by  the  Atlantic  coast 
tribes,  in  a  similar  manner.  Attention  has 
already  been  called  to  the  fact  that  the 
Delaware  Indians  used  fish  glue,  to  secure 
the  stone  points  to  the  shafts  of  the  arrows. 

Fig.  310  is  but  little  shorter  than  the  larger 
examples  of  the  chert  implements  found  in 
California,  figured  in  the  volume  on  Archae 
ology,  of  the  Government  Survey  of  Capt. 
Wheeler,104  and  possibly  may  have  been  used 


104  U.  S.  Geographical  Survey  west  of  looth  Meridian,  vol. 
FlG.  310.  — New  Jersey.     -J-.       vii,  pi.  i,  figs.  5,  6  and  7. 


FLINT   DAGGERS.  307 

in  ceremonial  observances  only,  as  Mr.  Powers105  has  stated,  was 
the  case  with  the  Pacific  coast  implements.  According  to  this 
author,  among  the  various  objects  worn  and  paraded  in  various 
ceremonial  dances,  are  the  flakes  or  knives  of  obsidian  or  jasper. 
"I  have  seen  several  which  were  fifteen  inches  or  more  in  length 
and  about  two  and  one- half  inches  wide  in  the  widest  part.  Pieces 
as  large  as  these  are  carried  aloft  in  the  hand  in  the  dance, 
wrapped  with  skin  or  cloth  to  prevent  the  rough  edges  from  lacer 
ating  the  hand,  but  the  smaller  ones  are  mounted  on  wooden  handles 
and  glued  fast. ' ' 

Considering  the  rarity  of  such  jasper  implements  as  fig.  310  and 
others,  that  more  nearly  correspond  with  those  of  the  largest  size 
mentioned  by  Mr.  Powers,  may  it  not  be  that,  on  the  Atlantic  coast 
also,  they  were  produced  only  upon  ceremonial  occasions,  and  did  not 
serve  any  of  the  purposes  that  have  been  ascribed  to  them  ? 

In  the  museum  of  the  Academy  of  Science  at  Salem,  Mass., 
is  a  beautiful  example  of  a  chipped  jasper  implement,  similar  to  those 
described  by  Mr.  Powers.  It  is  made  of  jasper,  and  measures  eleven 
and  one-fourth  inches  in  length  by  two  and  seven-eighths  inches  in 
width. 

This  specimen  was  presented  by  Jos.  Story,  esq.,  in  1824,  and  is 
labelled  as  coming  from  New  Jersey ;  associated  with  it  is  a  specimen 
of  another  class,  identical  with  the  western  spades  or  shovels.  It  is 
of  the  same  mineral,  also  from  New  Jersey,  and  presented  by  Mr.  Story 
in  1824. 

As  specimens  of  such  large  size  are  very  rare  in  the  eastern  or 
middle  states  it  is  more  than  probable  that  they  were  the  peculiar 
property  of  "  chiefs"  and  possibly  were  used  on  state  occasions  as  a 
badge  of  office,  rather  than  on  the  field  of  battle.  There  is  too  much 
work  on  such  an  implement  to  risk  its  being  broken  in  a  fight. 

Messrs.  Squier  and  Davis106    figure   a   "flint"    similar  in  size  and 

105  Powers.    Tribes  of  California :  Contributors  to  North  American  Ethnology,  vol.  iii,  p.  79. 
Washington,  1877. 

106  Squier  and  Davis.    Anc.  Mon.  Miss.  Valley,  p.  211,  fig.  99  (No.  3). 


3o8 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 


mineral,  but  varying  from  it  in  being  pointed  at  each  end.  After 
mentioning  the  use  to  which  the  stemmed  examples  were  put,  they  add, 
"There  are  others,  however,  the  manner  of  using  which  is  not  so  obvi 
ous.  No.  3  is  an  example.  It  measures  eleven  inches  in  length  by 
two  and  a  half  in  greatest  breadth.  It  has  been  suggested  that  it  was 
fastened  at  right  angles  to  a  handle  and  used  as  a  sort  of  battle-axe." 


CHAPTER    XXI. 


GROOVED  STONE  CLUB-HEADS. 


A  grooved  globular  or  oval  pebble  is  an  object  so  readily  utilized  in 
many  different  ways  that  it  is  well  nigh  impossible  to  determine  to 
what  use  any  particular  specimen  was  put.  Furthermore,  these  stone 
implements  are  common  to  a  large  portion  of  the  globe,  and  the  use 
to  which  the  natives  of  one  country  put  them  is  not  necessarily  the 
same  as  that  of  a  different  people. 

Grooved  pebbles  found  in  Denmark  are  referred  to  by  Nilsson107  as 
"  plummets "  and  considered  as  of  such  use  only.  The  sugges 
tion  that  they  were  "sling-shots"  he  regards  as  a  mere  supposition. 
Evans108  suggests  that,  in  England,  at  least,  they  were  used  as  "sinkers" 
for  nets  and  lines,  inasmuch  as  they  generally  are  not  battered  at  the 
ends,  and  so  show  no  indication  of  use  as  hammers.  Col.  C.  C. 
Jones,  jr.,109  does  not  refer  to  this  form,  when  occurring  in  the  southern 
states,  as  being  distinct  from  the  more  abundant  notched  pebbles,  but 
considers  them  alike  as  sinkers  for  nets  and  lines. 

While  it  is  very  probable  that  the  above  suggested  use  of  grooved 
globular  pebbles  is  correct,  so  far,  at  least,  as  it  applies  to  the  localities, 
to  which  these  authors  refer,  there  are  some  reasons  for  considering 
that  possibly  they  were  also  occasionally,  if  not  habitually,  put  to  a  far 
different  use. 

From  the  fact  that  many  of  the  grooved  globular  pebbles  are  care 
fully  worked  to  a  very  symmetrical  form,  and  the  groove  finished 
with  as  much  care  as  it  is  on  many  of  the  common  axes ;  and  for  the 

107  Nilsson.    Stone  Age  in  Scandinavia,  p.  25.    London,  1868. 

108  Evans.     Ancient  Stone  Implements  of  Great  Britain,  p.  211,  London,  1873. 

109  Jones.     Antiquities  of  the  Southern  Indians,  p.  338.      New  York,  1873. 

(309) 


310  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

additional  reason,  that  they  are  found  in  fewer  numbers  and  associated 
with  ordinary  forms  of  weapons  and  domestic  implements,  rather  than 
in  the  vicinity  of  rivers  or  the  larger  creeks,  it  is  believed  that  many, 
at  least,  of  the  larger  examples,  were  used,  not  as  sinkers,  or  plummets, 
but  as  club-heads,  and  therefore  should  be  classed  as  weapons.  There 
is  no  historical  evidence  to  confirm  this  opinion,  so  far  as  relates  to  the 
Delaware  Indians,  but  it  is  known  that  clubs  of  various  patterns  were, 
and  indeed  still  are,  a  favorite  weapon  of  the  native  races  of  America. 

The  Iroquois,  according  to  Morgan,110  had  war-clubs  of  two 
patterns ;  one,  the  Gd-je-wd,  with  a  globular  head  •  the  other,  Ga-ne- 
u'-ga-o-dus-ha,  armed  with  a  point  of  deer's  horn.  Of  these,  he  re 
marks  :  "before  the  tomahawk  came  into  use  among  the  Iroquois,  their 
principal  weapons  were  the  bow,  the  stone  tomahawk  and  war-club. 
The  Gd-je-wd  was  a  heavy  weapon  usually  made  of  ironwood,  with  a 
large  ball  of  knot  at  the  head.  It  was  usually  about  two  feet  in  length, 
and  the  ball  five  or  six  inches  in  diameter." 

Besides  these,  Mr.  Morgan  adds,  what  is  of  more  importance  in  this 
instance,  "oval  stones,  with  grooves  around  their  greatest  circumference, 
were  also  secured  in  the  heads  of  war-clubs,  and  thus  made  dangerous 
weapons."  It  is  recorded,  also,  of  the  Massachusetts  Indians,111  that 
"they  made  use  in  their  wars,  of  the  '  balista'  (a  war-club  with  a  stone 
head  covered  with  hide)  which  instrument  is  represented  several  times, 
agreeably  to  Chingvvauk's  interpretation,  on  Dighton  Rock."  West  of 
the  Mississippi  river,  a  form  of  weapon  was  long  ago  described  by  the 
explorers,  Lewis  and  Clarke,112  as  a  poggamoggon,  which,  although  not 
necessarily  a  grooved  stone,  is  further  evidence  that  globular  stones 
were  used  as  club-heads. 

Fig.  311  represents  an  excellent  example  of  these  larger  grooved 
pebbles,  which  are  supposed  to  have  had  other  uses  than  as  net-sinkers. 
In  this  example,  the  groove  is  accurately  finished,  and  quite  smooth, 
and  the  ends  of  the  pebble  are  free  from  every  indication  of  hard 

110  League  of  the  Iroquois,  p.  362.    New  York,  1850. 

111  Schoolcraft,  /.  c.,  pt.  i,  p.  284,  pi.  15,  figs,  i  and  2, 

112  Exp.  up  the  Missouri,  vol.  i,  page  415.    Philadel.,  1814. 


GROOVED  STONE  CLUB- HEADS. 


usage  of  any  kind.  The  stone  itself  is  very  hard  and  heavy,  and 
might  be  used  indefinitely  for  cracking  skulls  without  exhibiting 
any  wear.  Occasionally,  equally  well-wrought  implements  of  this 
pattern  are  found,  that  have  two  grooves  crossing  each  other  at  right 
angles.  The  object  of  this  is  not  clear.  No  traces  of  a  handle,  such 
as  that  in  which  it  is  supposed  these  grooved  stones  were  mounted, 
have  been  found  in  any  of  the  Indian  graves  in  New  Jersey ;  but  it  is 
of  interest  to  note  that  these  stones  frequently  occur  in  these  graves, 
and  there  is  no  instance  of  an  ordinary  net-weight  having  been  found 
among  the  contents  of  any  ancient  burial.  As  the  large  mauls  were 
necessarily  used  with  a 
handle,  and  these  smaller 
grooved  pebbles  are  sim 
ply  mauls  in  miniature,  it 
is  quite  reasonable  to  sup 
pose,  that  when  they  are 
highly  finished,  and  have 
a  certain  smoothness  in 
dicative  of  a  leather  cover 
ing,  they  were  used  as 
weapons. 

Fig  312  represents  a 
second  example  of  tl.ese 
larger  grooved  pebbles, 

which  though  not  actually  polished,  is  exceedingly  smooth  and 
free  from  all  inequalities  of  surface.  The  groove,  in  this  specimen,  is 
unusually  narrow  and  deep,  and  very  smooth  ;  and,  if  originally  pecked, 
has  since  been  intentionally  ground  or  worn  away  by  the  friction  of 
a  leather  cord.  This  specimen,  whatever  it  may  prove  to  have  been, 
would  be  more  intelligible  were  it  not  for  the  deep  cuplike  depressions 
on  the  sides,  so  situated  as  to  break  the  continuity  of  the  groove. 
These  cups,  or  hollows,  are  larger  than  the  finger  pits  of  common 
hammer  stones,  and,  like  the  groove,  are  carefully  ground  ;  and,  except 
that  they  are  oval,  would  appear  to  have  been  drilled.  Putting  aside 


FIG.  311. —  New  Jersey. 


312  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

the  presence  of  these  lateral  depressions,  it  is  probable,  that  this  speci 
men,  like  the  foregoing,  was  mounted  in  a  flexible  handle,  and  used  as 
a  club. 

Other  uses,  however,  may  have  been  found  for  these  globular  stones  ; 
for  instance,  we  find  in  Schoolcraft's  work  an  illustration  of  a  war-club 
with  such  a  small  round  stone  inserted  in  a  notch  in  the  end  of  the 
club,  giving  the  completed  implement  the  appearance  of  an  ordinary 
wrench  with  a  small  object  held  in  its  jaws.  Such  a  specimen,  as  fig. 
311  might  have  been  used  in  this  manner,  also. 

Mr.  George  C.  Musters113  has  given  us  a  most  interesting  account  of 


FIG.  312.  —  New  Jersey.    \. 

the  weapons  and  hunting  implements  of  the  T'ehuelche  Indians,  and  in 
his  description  of  the  "bolas  'r  now  in  use  by  these  savages,  refers  to 
ancient  bolas,  which  seem  to  be  identical  with  the  grooved  pebbles,  or 
" net-weights,"  that  we  have  described.  Mr.  Musters  writes  :  "Ancient 
bolas  (globular  stones)  are  not  unfrequently  met  with.  These  are  highly 
valued  by  the  Indians,  and  differ  from  those  in  present  use  by  having 
grooves  cut  around  them,,  and  by  their  larger  size  and  greater  weight." 
There  is  no  reason  for  believing  that  the  Patagonian  bolas  were  ever 
in  use  among  the  North  American  Indians,  but  it  is  not  at  all  improba- 

113  At  home,  with  the  Patagonians,  p.  166.     London,  1872. 


GROOVED    STONE   CLUB-HEADS.  $13 

ble  that  a  weapon  should  have  been  in  common  use  among  the  native 
populations  of  the  Atlantic  seaboard,  of  which  these  same  globular 
pebbles  formed  a  part.  The  long  cords  of  the  bolas  might  have  given 
place  in  this  country  to  a  flexible  handle,  and  a  more  terrible  blow  might 
have  been  inflicted  with  this  implement  thus  mounted,  than  could  have 
been  given  with  wooden  war-clubs  of  greater  size  and  weight. 

As  in  the  case  of  many  other  kinds  of  stone  implements  we  find 
these  grooved  pebbles  grading  into  other  and  totally  different  objects. 
When  materially  larger  than  the  specimens  figured,  these  objects  be 
come  mauls  ;  and  in  every  series  of  a  few  hundreds  of  these,  it  will  be 
found,  that  in  many  the  groove  is  not  continuous,  and  so  they  approach 
the  notched  pebbles.  This  is  specially  marked,  when  the  pebbles  are 
somewhat  flattened.  These  facts,  however,  do  not  bear  upon  the  ques 
tions  of  probable  uses  of  typical  forms  ;  for  in  no  instance  yet,  has  it 
been  possible  to  draw  a  dividing  line  between  one  class  of  objects,  and 
that  which  most  nearly  resembles  it.  Perhaps,  of  the  many  puzzling 
forms  of  stone  implements  yet  found,  these  small  grooved  pebbles  are 
the  most  difficult  to  decipher.  Occasionally,  one  has  been  found,  less 
than  an  inch  in  diameter. 


CHAPTER   XXII. 


PIPES. 


NOTHING  of  all  the  handiwork,  in  stone  or  clay,  possesses  so  great  an 
interest,  and  recalls  so  vividly  the  early  history  of  America,  as  the 
tobacco-pipe.  Whether  as  the  merest  fragment  of  a  pipe  of  clay,  or 
as  a  carved  and  polished  stone  specimen,  they  bring  back  to  us  the 
image  of  the  dusky  warrior,  gorgeous  in  feathers  and  vermilion,  bearing 
with  the  dignity  of  a  king  his  ever-present  pipe. 

The  sorrowful  history  of  the  long  series  of  broken  treaties  between 
the  American  Indian  and  the  European  settler  is  made  up  of  promises 
and  ceremonial  smoking ;  but  the  clouds  of  the  fragrant  smoke  and 
the  white  man's  recollection  of  his  promises  were  equally  evanescent. 

When,  happily,  we  find  an  occasional  pipe  in  our  rambles,  or,  disturb 
ing  the  ashes  of  some  forgotten  hero,  we  rifle  the  grave  of  this,  the 
chiefest  of  his  possessions,  we  are  apt  to  think  of  it  only  as  a  mere 
"medium  through  which  the  narcotic  influences  of  tobacco  were 
imparted." 

Smoking  pipes,  however,  have  other  and  more  interesting  signifi 
cances,  and  are  inseparably  connected  with  the  whole  social  system  of 
the  American  native  races.  To  know  the  whole  history  of  tobacco, 
of  the  custom  of  smoking,  and  of  the  origin  of  the  pipe,  would  be  to 
solve  many  of  the  most  interesting  problems  of  American  ethnology. 

To  bring  together  the  little  that  has  been  recorded  by  the  earliest 
European  travellers  concerning  pipes  and  the  custom  of  tobacco 
smoking  is  not  within  the  scope  of  the  present  volume.  It  must 
suffice  here,  simply  to  record  the  fact  that  the  later,  if  not  the  earlier 
natives  of  the  Atlantic  coast  were  habitual  smokers,  as  the  vast 
numbers  of  fragmentary  pipes  attest ;  and  that  they  who  used  them 

(315) 


31 6  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

also  made  them  is  the  testimony  of  those  who  first  came  in  contact 
with  the  Indian. 

Holm114  says  of  the  Delaware  Indians,  "they  make  tobacco  pipes 
out  of  reeds  about  a  man's  length ;  the  bowl  is  made  of  horn,  and  to 
contain  a  great  quantity  of  tobacco ;  they  generally  present  these  pipes 
to  their  friends.  They  made  them,  otherwise,  of  red,  yellow  and  blue 
clay,  of  which  there  is  a  great  quantity  in  the  country ;  also  of  white, 
grey,  green,  brown,  black  and  blue  stones,  which  are  so  soft  that  they 
can  be  cut  with  a  knife ;  of  these  they  make  their  pipes  a  yard  and  a 
half  long  or  longer." 

While,  in  the  above  quotation,  there  is  a  somewhat  vague  description 
of  the  stone  pipes,  it  is  evident  that  the  stem  has  been  included 
with  the  bowl,  as  though  but  one  object,  instead  of  two.  In  the 
valley  of  the  Delaware,  to-day,  pipes  of  steatite  of  various  colors, 
and  of  silurian  slate,  the  "black  and  blue  stone;"  and  yet  others  of 
clay,  "red,  yellow  and  blue,"  are  to  be  gathered  if  we  carefully  search 
for  them. 

Peter  Kalm,  the  Swede,  who  made  many  careful  notes  of  the  antiq 
uities  of  the  Delaware  Indians,  so  long  ago  as  1 749,  refers,  as  follows 
(Travels  in  North  America,  vol.  n,  p.  42),  to  their  smoking-pipes. 
He  says  "the  old  tobacco-pipes  of  the  Indians  are  *  *  *  *  made  of 
clay,  or  pot-stone,  or  serpentine  stone.  The  first  sort  are  shaped  like 
our  tobacco-pipes,  though  much  coarser  and  not  so  well  made.  The 
tube  is  thick  and  short,  hardly  an  inch  long,  but  sometimes  as  long  as 
a  finger ;  their  color  comes  nearest  to  that  of  our  tobacco-pipes  which 
have  been  long  used.  Their  tobacco-pipes  of  pot-stone  are  made  of 
the  same  stone  as  their  kettles.  Some  of  them  are  pretty  well  made, 
though  they  had  neither  iron  nor  steel.  But  besides  these  kinds  of 
tobacco-pipes,  we  find  another  sort  of  pipes,  which  are  made  with 
great  ingenuity,  of  a  very  fine,  red  pot-stone,  or  a  kind  of  serpentine 
marble.  They  are  very  scarce,  and  seldom  made  use  of  by  any  other 
than  the  Indian  sachems,  or  elders.  The  fine  red  stone,  of  which 

114  Holm.     History  of  New  Sweden,  p.  130.     Philadelphia,  1834. 


PIPES.  317 

these  pipes  are  made,  is  likewise  very  scarce,  and  is  found  only 
in  the  country  of  those  Indians  who  *  *  *  *  live  on  the  other 
(western)  side  of  the  river  Mississippi.  The  Indians  themselves  com 
monly  value  a  pipe  of  this  kind  as  much  as  a  piece  of  silver  of  the 
same  size,  and  sometimes  they  make  it  still  dearer.  Of  the  same  kind 
of  stone  commonly  consists  their  pipe  of  peace,  which  the  French  call 
calumet  de  paix,  and  which  they  make  use  of  in  their  treaties  of  peace, 
and  alliances."  The  same  writer,  when  in  the  neighborhood  of  Quebec, 
has  also  recorded  that  "in  some  places,  hereabouts,  they  find  among 
the  states,  a  stratum  about  four  inches  thick  of  a  gray,  compact,  but 
pretty  soft  limestone,  of  which  the  Indians  for  many  centuries  have 
made,  and  the  French  at  present  still  make,  tobacco-pipes." 

Smoking-pipes,  as  found  in  New  England  and  in  New  Jersey,  do  not 
show  any  marked  peculiarities  from  which  to  infer  the  occurrence  of 
certain  patterns  in  one  locality  and  not  in  the  other.  So  far  as  can  be 
ascertained,  there  is  a  larger  proportion  of  certain  forms  found  in  New 
England  than  in  New  Jersey,  and  vice  versa,  but  nothing  further. 

Pipes  made  of  Catlinite,  to  which  Kalm  refers,  as  "red  pot-stone," 
are  of  very  rare  occurrence  in  New  England,  and  even  more  so  in  New 
Jersey  cr  Pennsylvania.  In  western  New  York,  occasional  specimens 
have  been  found. 

Of  the  whole  number  of  pipes  found  along  our  Atlantic  seaboard, 
and  preserved  in  the  museums,  there  is  no  one  specimen  or  series  of 
one  pattern  that  can  be  considered  as  a  typical  form.  The  simplest 
patterns  have  frequently  as  much  polish  and  symmetry,  as  the  most 
elaborately  carved  and  otherwise  embellished  specimens.  Taken  as  a 
whole,  pipes  suggest  very  strongly  that  they  were  made  by  those  who 
proposed  to  use  them,  and  the  differences  exhibited  are  those  which 
always  occur  in  the  respective  handiwork  of  painstaking  and  careless 
people. 

While,  for  convenience  of  description,  the  various  examples  of  pipes 
have  been  rudely  classified,  it  is  to  be  understood  that  the  order  of  the 
descriptions  is  not  based  upon  relative  abundance,  neither  has  it  any 


318  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

ethnological  significance.  If,  indeed,  every  Indian  was  his  own  pipe 
maker,  this  must  necessarily  be  the  case.  It  is  certainly  true  of  some 
of  the  southern  and  western  patterns  of  pipes,  that  they  are  character 
istic  of  the  localities  where  they  occur ;  but  the  same  objects  when 
found  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard  are,  collectively,  a  heterogeneous  mass  ; 
the  outcome  of  transient  fancy,  and  not  of  settled  custom. 

If  we  are  to  grade  the  culture-development  of  the  eastern  seacoast 
Indians,  by  the  excellence  and  artistic  finish  of  their  smoking-pipes 
alone,  they  will  rank  lower  than  the  southern  and  some  of  the  western 
tribes  ;  but  if  their  handiwork  in  stone,  as  a  whole,  is  considered,  they 
will  compare  favorably  with  any  and  all  others. 

Fig.  313  represents  a  beautiful  example  of  a  common  Atlantic  coast 
pattern  of  smoking-pipe.  As  the  illustration  plainly  shows,  these  pipes 
are  simply  cylindrical  bowls  placed  at  right  angles  upon  flat  stems,  or 
bases.  Inasmuch  as  these  pipes  are  cut  from  one  piece  of  stone  of  a 
kind  that  does  not  occur  as  variously  shaped  pebbles,  so  that  those 
that  were  somewhat  pipe-shaped  might  be  chosen,  it  is  apparent  how 
great  must  have  been  the  amount  of  labor,  to  work  to  its  present  shape, 
a  pipe  like  313.  Taking  into  consideration  the  fact  that  the  mineral 
of  which  they  are  made  is  usually  steatite,  they  nevertheless  show  a 
great  amount  of  patience,  and  a  certain  degree  of  artistic  skill. 

Fig.  313  was  found  in  an  Indian  grave  at  Revere  Beach,  Essex  Co., 
Mass.  Many  of  the  finest  examples  of  this  pattern  of  pipe  have  been 
recovered  from  graves  in  this  vicinity.  In  the  museum  of  the  Acad 
emy  of  Science  at  Salem,  Mass.,  are  three  handsome  specimens  of  this 
pattern.  They  were  found  by  Professor  Putnam,115  in  graves,  near 
Beverly,  Mass.  One  of  these  pipes  has  several  holes  bored  along  the 
margin  of  the  base,  probably  for  the  attachment  of  ornaments.  As 
sociated  with  these  pipes,  which  were  taken  from  three  graves,  were 
various  objects,  as  arrowheads,  celts,  and  three  large  pendants.  There 
was  also,  in  one  of  the  graves,  a  thin  slab  of  smooth  sandstone  with  a 

115  Putnam.     Bulletin  of  the  Essex  Institute,  vol.  iii,  p.  123.     Salem,  Mass. 


PIPES. 


319 


few  scratches  so  arranged  as  to  represent  a  ladder  such  as  a  child 
might  draw.     Finally,  such  an  amount  of  ochre  had  been  placed  in 


these  graves  that  the  entire  contents  were  more  or  less  colored. 

Of  this  pattern  is  a  pipe  figured  by  Morgan,116  of  which  he  speaks 

116  Morgan.     League  of  the  Iroquois,  p.  356. 


320  PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 

as  "doubtless  a  relic  of  the  moundbuilders"  which,  having  found  its 
way  into  the  hands  of  a  Seneca,  was  finally  buried  by  his  side,  in  the 
valley  of  the  Genessee.  The  author  further  remarks,  "  in  material  and 
finish,  it  is  unlike,  and  superior  to  the  pipes  of  the  Iroquois."  The 
fact  of  being  made  of  black  marble  would  seem  to  indicate  that  such 
a  pipe  was  not  of  Algonkin  origin,  though  in  shape  and  finish,  there  is 
nothing  to  distinguish  it  from  the  pipes  of  the  Algonkin  neighbors  of 
the  Iroquois. 

Fig.  314  represents  a  very  handsome  specimen  of  pipe,  made  of 
compact  steatite,  of  a  green-black  color,  which  differs  from  the  pre 
ceding  in  several  particulars,  although  about  the  same  size.  This 


FlG.  314.  —  Virginia.     £. 

specimen  is  of  a  pattern  seldom  found  in  the  New  England  and  mid 
dle  states,  except  of  a  much  smaller  size  and  made  of  clay.  (See 
fig.  318).  In  fig.  314,  as  in  the  preceding,  there  is  no  attempt  at 
ornamentation  by  incised  lines  or  other  methods,  the  surface  being 
simply  polished.  The  walls  of  the  bowl  are  of  uniform  thickness,  and 
there  are  still  visible  on  the  interior,  the  marks  of  the  tool  used  in 
excavating  it.  The  stem,  which  is  a  flattened  oval  in  section,  taper 
ing  gradually  from  the  bowl  to  its  termination,  has  been  carefully  drilled, 
and  the  perforation  is  perfectly  straight. 

This  specimen  was  found  in  Isle  of  Wight  Co.,  Virginia. 

Fig.  315  represents  an  interesting  example  of  a  steatite  pipe,  found 
many  years  ago,  in  the  village  of  Princeton,  New  Jersey.  It  is  remark- 


PIPES. 


321 


able   for   the  size  of  the  stem  as  compared  with  that  of  the  bowl. 

Whether  the  broad  and  deeply  incised  lines  on  the  side  of  the  stem 

are  of  Indian  origin  is  not  known, 

but  they  do  not  look  as  if  they 

had  been  very  recently  cut.     If 

intended    merely   as    ornamental 

lines,   the    result   can   hardly   be 

considered   satisfactory.      The 

raised  figure,  with  a  deep  dorsal 

notch,  is  common  to  all  of  these 

pipes.    Whether  placed   there 

simply  as  an  ornament,  or  as  an 

aid    in    securing  .the    long   reed 

stems,  which  Holm  says  were  of 

a   man's  length,  is  certainly  an 

open  question. 

Pipes  of  this  pattern  are  not  as 
frequently  found  in  New  Jersey 
as  are  those  with  the  thin  flat  stem, 
like  fig.  313,  while  in  New  Eng 
land  they  are  scarcely  known. 

Fig.  316  represents  a  second 
example  of  this  pattern  of  pipe, 
but  with  a  more  generous  bowl, 
and  a  far  less  inconvenient  stem. 
The  finish  and  design  in  this  speci 
men  are  alike  creditable  to  the 
maker,  and  we  have  in  it  all  the 
requirements  for  a  comfortable 
smoke. 

Like  the  preceding,  fig.  316  is 

made  of  a  dark  greenish,  compact  FIG.  3i5.  — New  Jersey, 

serpentine.     The  bowl  has  been  made  by  boring  with  a  stone  drill  of 
about  two-thirds  its  width.    This  cavity  is  of  uniform  width  and  corre- 
21 


322 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


spends  in  direction  with  the  inner  perpendicular  margin  of  the  bowl, 
and  so  is  at  right  angles  with  the  perforation  of  the  stem.  In  this 
instance  the  stem  ornament,  though  notched,  is  not  sufficiently  so,  to 
afford  any  aid  in  fastening  a  cord  from  the  long  reed  stem  to  this 
portion  of  the  pipe.  Indeed,  the  whole  appearance  of  this  ridge-like 
ornament  is  such,  that  it  cannot  be  considered  as  having  any  other 
than  an  ornamental  purpose. 

Fig.  317  represents  a  beautifully  sculptured  pipe  made  of  a  very 
dense,  unyielding  stone,  of  a  jet  black  color.  This  pip'e  was  found 
near  Lewes,  Delaware.  While  this  specimen  exceeds,  in  finish  and 


FIG.  316. — Pennsylvania,    j. 

design,  any  other  examined  either  from  New  Jersey  or  New  England, 
there  is  not  a  particle  of  evidence  to  show  that  it  was  not  the  produc 
tion  of  some  one  of  our  resident  Indians. 

Pipes  of  this  pattern  are  of  common  occurrence  in  the  extreme 
southwest,  but  are  found  less  frequently  as  we  come  north  of  the 
Carolinas.  That  this  specimen  may  have  been  brought  from  a  distance 
is  possible,  but  the  character  of  the  work  upon  it  does  not  necessarily 
imply  that  such  was  the  case. 

If  we  assume  that  in  many,  if  not  in  most  instances,  every  Indian 
made  his  own  pipe.,  there  is  nothing  strange  in  the  fact  that  an  elabo- 


PIPES.  323 

rate  specimen  should  occur  occasionally  among  those  of  a  much  plainer 
pattern.  A  well  made  stone  pipe  would  last  an  Indian  a  lifetime,  and 
we  can  well  imagine  that  spare  hours  during  the  greater  part  of  that 
lifetime  might  be  spent  in  its  ornamentation,  even  long  after  it  was  so 
far  finished  as  to  be  ready  for  use. 

Lifelike  and  artistic  as  is  the  turtle  carved  upon  the  stem  of  fig.  317, 
it  must  be  remembered  that  without  this  ornament,  the  pipe  is  of  the 
same  pattern  as  the  preceding,  and  this  fact,  with  that  of  the  common 
occurrence  of  representations  of  the  turtle,  in  other  ways,  renders  the 


FIG.  317. —  Delaware.    {. 

combination  as  we  here  find  it,  of  the  pipe  and  the  turtle,  a  very 
natural  one,  among  the  productions  of  the  Delaware  Indians. 

The  pipe,  represented  by  fig.  318,  is  in  the  Archaeological  Museum 
at  Cambridge.  At  the  Boston  meeting  of  the  American  Association 
for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  Mr.  F.  W.  Putnam  made  it  the 
subject  of  a  communication,  of  which  he  has  kindly  furnished  me 
with  the  following  abstract : 

"  The  pipe  is  made  of  the  dark  slate  from  which  so  many  pipes 
and  objects  are  carved  by  the  tribes  of  the  northwestern  coast  of 
America,  and  it  unquestionably  originally  came  from  that  region.  The 
style  of  carving,  representing  the  peculiar  human  figure  combined  with 
the  head  and  wings  of  a  bird,  is  so  characteristic  of  the  northwestern 


t 

-524  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

carvings  as  to  leave  no  doubt  as  to  its  origin.  The  question  that  will 
be  asked  is,  how  did  it  happen  to  be  found  on  the  coast  of  Massa 
chusetts  ?  Of  course  the  natural  reply  to  this  question  will  be  that  it 
was  brought  by  some  sailor  from  the  Pacific,  and  long  ago  lost.  This 
may  have  been  the  case,  but  to  me  it  seems  as  probable  that  it  may 
have  been  brought  across  the  continent  long  before  our  ships  sailed  to 
and  from  the  Pacific  coasts.  Did  we  know  only  of  a  few  instances  of 
the  discovery  of  objects  far  away  from  their  proper  natural  positions 


FIG.  318.  —  Massachusetts.    \. 

We  might  rest  contented  with  the  'sailor  theory,'  but  too  many  similar 
facts  are  now  known  to  leave  us  satisfied  with  the  theory  that  such 
carved  pipes,  stones,  shells,  and  other  objects  were  brought  from 
distant  parts  in  modern  times,  to  be  thrown  away,  or  lost,  and  acci 
dentally  buried.  The  contents  of  the  burial  mounds  and  of  old  Indian 
graves,  all  over  the  country,  furnish  us  with  unquestionable  data  of  the 
early  exchange  of  objects  from  distant  places.  The  fact  that  beads 
and  disks  made  from  the  large  marine  shells  of  the  southern  coasts 
have  been  found  in  mounds  far  in  the  interior  of  the  country,  and  that 


PIPES.  325 

the  shells  of  the  marine  Busycon  of  our  southern  coasts  have  been 
found  in  numbers  in  the  mounds  in  the  vicinity  of  the  great  lakes,  as 
well  as  pretty  generally  in  old  burial  places  over  the  whole  region  from 
Michigan  to  Florida,  not  to  mention  many  other  instances  of  a  similar 
character,  is  sufficient  to  show  that  trade,  or  intertribal  exchange  of 
some  kind,  took  place  long  before  the  white  man  pushed  the  red  from 
the  Atlantic  coast.  From  the  large  number  of  facts  that  we  now  have, 
I  therefore  fail  to  see  why  it  is  not  decidedly  probable  that  this  pipe 
was  obtained  from  the  northwestern  coast  by  intertribal  communica 
tion. 

The  following  quotations  are  of  interest  in  this  connection  as  they 
show  that  pipes  were  a  common  article  of  exchange  among  certain 
recent  tribes  : 

'  Common  sort  of  pipes  are  made  of  a  kind  of  ruddle,  dug  by  the 
Indians  living  to  the  west  of  the  Mississippi,  on  the  Marble  river,  who 
sometimes  bring  them  to  these  countries  for  sale.  Pipes  made  of  red 
marble  used  only  by  chiefs  and  captains,  this  sort  of  marble  being  rare 
and  found  only  on  the  Mississippi.'  (Loskiel,  p.  51.) 

'  Sometimes  they  make  such  great  pipes  both  of  wood  and  stone, 
that  they  are  too  foot  long,  with  men  or  beasts  carved  .  .  .  but  these 
commonly  come  from  the  Mangawwoop,  or  the  man  eaters,  three  or 
four  hundred  miles  from  us.'  (Roger  Williams,  Key  to  the  Indian 
Language,  p.  55.) 

The  Indians  'barter  pipes,  et  cet.,  for  raw  skins.'  (Lawson,  Car 
olina,  p.  207.) 

'Black  marble  pipes  are  made  with  great  patience  and  labor,  by 
one  person  only,  throughout  the  whole  nation. — He  lives  in  Natchez, 
and  being  the  only  man  that  knows  where  the  stone  can  be  found, 
monopolizes  the  business  entirely,  and  sell  his  common  pipes  at  half 
the  price  of  a  blanket.'  (Schoolcraft,  vol.  v,  p.  692.) 

That  Indians  made  at  least  occasional  visits  to  other  nations  in  far 
distant  portions  of  the  continent  is  evident  from  the  statement  by 
DuPratz,  who  mentions  that  '  Moncacht-ap'e  among  the  Yazous,  a 
nation  about  forty  leagues  north  from  the  NatchesJ  in  his  extended 


326  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

wanderings,  reached  the  Pacific  coast,  as  is  evident  from  the  following 
quotation  from  his  narrative,  as  given  to  DuPratz.  '  After  this  expe 
dition,'  he  says,  'I  thought  of  nothing  but  proceeding  on  my  journey, 
and  with  that  design  I  let  the  red  men  return  home,  and  joined 
myself  to  those  who  inhabited  more  westward  on  the  coast,  with 
whom  I  travelled  along  the  shore  of  the  Great  Water,  which  bends 
directly  betwixt  the  north  and  the  sun-setting/  Mohcacht-ap'e  con 
cludes  by  saying  '  it  was  five  years  before  I  returned  to  my  relations 
among  the  Yazous?  (DuPratz,  History  of  Louisiana.  Vol.  ii,  p.  128. 
London,  1763.) 

The  pipe  was  found  by  Mr.  Walter  B.  Cobb,  in  1 85  3,  between  two  and 
three  feet  underground,  on  his  father's  place  in  North  Carver,  a  small 
town  about  four  miles  from  Plymouth,  and  was  secured  for  the  Museum 
at  Cambridge  through  Mr.  A.  M.  Harrison  of  Plymouth,  who  has  no 
doubt  about  the  pipe  having  been  dug  up  as  stated.  In  confirmation 
of  the  theory  that  this  pipe  was  brought  across  the  continent  by  some 
kind  of  Indian  interchange,  I  call  your  attention  to  the  photograph  of 
a  similar  northwestern-coast  pipe,  now  in  the  Natural  History  Society 
of  Amesbury,  Massachusetts,  which  was  found  in  digging  a  town  road 
through  a  gravel  hill  in  New  Hampshire,  several  years  ago  ;  and  also 
to  the  drawing  of  another  pipe,  in  general  character  the  same  as  the 
one  from  Plymouth,  which  was  found  in  Canterbury,  New  Hampshire, 
and  now  owned  by  Dr.  E.  E.  Gans  of  Boscawen,  New  Hampshire.  It 
seems  hardly  probable  that  these  three  pipes,  of  unquestionable  north 
western  origin,  should  have  been  brought  from  the  Pacific  coast  by 
sailors  and  lost  in  the  states  of  Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire." 

Fig.  319  represents  a  very  large  and  rudely  finished  pipe  bowl,  made 
of  sandstone.  While  comparatively  smooth,  there  is  no  appearance 
that  it  has  ever  been  polished  or  in  a  more  finished  condition,  than  at 
present.  It  was  found  near  Trenton,  N.  J.,  and  is  a  facsimile  of  large 
numbers  both  of  stone  and  clay,  found  in  the  southwestern  states. 
Pipes  of  this  pattern  are  seldom  found  in  New  England,  and  are  of 
rare  occurrence  in  New  Jersey.  An  allied  form  made  of  steatite,  but 
with  both  the  bowl  and  stem  square  instead  of  cylindrical,  is  common 


PIPES.  327 

in  Georgia,  and  occasionally  is  found  in  New  England.  Pipes  made 
of  baked  clay,  of  the  shape  and  size  of  fig.  317  on  the  other  hand,  are 
very  frequently  found  in  the  mounds  of  Tennessee  and  Arkansas,117 
while  no  specimens  of  pipes  of  this  pattern  made  of  clay  are  known 
to  have  been  found  in  New  Jersey  or  northward. 

Fig.  320  is  a  plain,  but  neatly  finished  pipe  bowl,  made  of  the 
Silurian  striped  slate,"  that  was  so  highly  regarded  by  the  Indians  and 
moundbuilders,  for  all  ornamental  stone  work.  Pipes  of  this  pattern, 


FIG.  319.  —  New  Jersey,    -j-. 

and  particularly  of  this  material,  are  of  somewhat  rare  occurrence  in- 
New  Jersey  or  New  England. 

A  small  pipe  bowl  of  this  shape,  but  made  of  compact,  fine-grained 
sandstone,  and  of  about  one-half  the  size  of  fig.  320,  is  contained  in 
the  series  of  pipes  in  the  collections  of  the  Archaeological  museum 
at  Cambridge,  Mass.  (P.  M.  No.  15698).  Like  the  specimen  figured, 
it  has  no  ornamentation  upon  it. 

Dr.  Chas.  Rau  gives  a  figure  of  a  somewhat  similar  specimen,  but 

117  Putnam.     Eleventh  Annual  Report,  Peabody  Museum,  p.  347,  fig.  35. 


328 


PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 


which  has  a  squared  base.  (Smithsonian  Contributions  to  Knowledge, 
No.  287.)  He  refers  to  pipes  of  this  pattern,  as  "reminding  one  of  the 
corn-cob  pipes  in  use  among  the  farmers  of  this  country." 

Of  the  series  of  pipes  preserved  in  the  museum  at  Cambridge,  Mass., 
all  made  of  this  material  are  from  the  mounds  of  Ohio  and  other 
western  states.  The  finding  of  this  specimen  in  New  Jersey  is  the  less 
surprising,  however,  from  the  fact  that  the  majority  of  ornamental 
carvings  are  of  this  same  mineral,  thus  showing  that  the  supply  was 
sufficient  for  making  pipes,  had  the  Indians  chosen  to  do  so. 

A  few  of  the  most  remarkable  specimens  of  pipe  sculpture  from 
Ohio  were  made  of  this  material;  and  as 
some  of  these  have  been  derived  from 
mounds,  it  is  of  interest  to  know,  that  the 
same  mineral  should  have  been  so  generally 
used  for  such  purposes,  by  both  peoples  ;  a 
fact  that  does  not,  of  itself,  indicate  any 
racial  relationship,  and  care  should  be  exer 
cised  not  to  class,  inferentially,  objects  of 
striped  slate  found  on  the  surface,  with  simi 
lar  specimens  taken  from  the  mounds. 
Identity  of  form,  and  of  material,  does  not 
prove  an  identity  of  origin.  The  tendency 
to  ascribe  to  the  superior  (?)  skill  of  the 

FIG.  320.  —  New  Jersey.    -\. 

moundbuilders  all  the  creditable  stone  im 
plements  found  on  the  surface,  in  moundbuilder  regions,  has  led  to 
much  unfortunate  confusion. 

A  pipe  somewhat  similar  to  fig.  320,  found  in  Vermont,  has  a  rude 
attempt  at  ornamentation,  in  a  projection  at  the  rim,  of  what  is  sup 
posed  to  represent  the  beak  of  a  bird.  This  pipe  is  over  two  and  a 
half  inches  long  and  rather  more  than  one  inch  in  its  longest  diameter, 
the  cross  section  being  oval.  Pipes  of  other  patterns  made  of  stone 
"are  rarely  found,"  in  Vermont;  but  those  that  have  been  preserved 
"are  well  made  and  polished,  and  while  as  compared  with  the  elabo 
rately  carved  specimens  from  the  mounds,  our  Vermont  specimens 


PIPES. 


329 


appear  very  plain,  yet  they  are   not  of  inferior  workmanship  though 
in  simpler  form."118 

Fig.  321  represents  an  example  of  a  pipe,  differing  from  the  preced 
ing,  in  the  position  of  the  hole  for  the  insertion  of  the  stem.  In  the 
former  the  stem  was  at  right  angles  with  the  bowl ;  in  this  pipe,  it  was 
so  inserted,  at  the  end  of  the  bowl,  as  to  bring  the  two  nearly,  or  quite 
in  a  line. 

This  perfect  specimen,  like  the  majority  of  pipes  of  this  shape,  is 
made  of  soapstone,  and  bears  no  trace 
of  ornamentation.  It  is  an  elongated 
oval  bowl  two  and  a  half  inches  in 
length,  and  a  little  more  than  one  inch 
in  diameter  at  the  mouth  and  five- 
eighths  of  an  inch  in  diameter  at  the 
base.  The  front  of  the  bowl  is  some 
what  convex  in  outline  ;  the  opposite 
outline  is  more  nearly  straight.  A  little 
above  the  middle  of  the  front  of  the 
bowl  commences  a  projection  a  quarter 
of  an  inch  in  width  and  a  little  less  than 
an  inch  in  length. 

The  pipe  used  by  the  Shoshones  at  a 
ceremonial  smoking  and  speech-making, 
in  honor  of  Capts.  Lewis  and  Clarke,  is 
described  as  "  made  of  a  dense,  but 
almost  transparent,  green  stone,  very  highly  polished,  about  two  and 
a  half  inches  in  length,  and  of  an  oval  form,  'the  bowl  being  in  the 
same  line'  with  the  stem."  A  small  piece  of  burnt  clay  was  placed 
at  the  bottom  of  the  bowl,  to  separate  the  tobacco  from  the  end  of 
the  stem.  "  This  was  an  irregular  round  figure,  not  fitting  the  tube 
perfectly  close,  in  order  that  the  smoke  might  pass  with  facility."119 


FIG.  321.  — New  Jersey.    -J-. 


11S  Perkins,  /.  c.,  p.  740. 

119  Stevens.     Flint  Chips,  p.  5161  quoting  Lewis  and  Clarke. 


330 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 


K. 


The  above  description  very  closely  applies  to  fig.  321,  which,  from 
the  position  of  the  stem-hole  must  have 
been  used  in  a  similar  manner.  It  closely 
resembles  the  long  tubular  pipes  so  charac 
teristic  of  the  islands  off  the  coast  of  Cali 
fornia.  While  many  of  the  latter  are  three 
and  four  times  as  long  as  this  specimen, 
others  are  of  about  the  same  length,  and 
so  almost,  if  not  entirely,  lose  their  tubular 
character,  and  are  simply  elongated  pipe- 
bowls.  Tubular  pipes  of  the  character  of 
the  largest  examples  found  on  the  Pacific 
coast  are,  however,  not  wanting  on  the 
Atlantic  seaboard. 

Fig.  322  represents  a  very  characteristic 
specimen  of  these  pipes,  found  near  Law 
rence,  Mass.  In  no  particular  does  it  differ 
from  the  remarkable  series  of  smoking 
pipes  that  have  been  found  in  California. 
Fortunately,  these  have  the  bone  mouth 
pieces  still  in  them,  and  hence  there  can 
be  no  doubt  as  to  their  use.  While  there 
have  been  many  stone  tubes  discovered  in 
various  localities,  which  from  their  size,  the 
large  and  uniform  diameter  of  the  bore, 
and  other  features,  should  probably  not 
be  classed  as  smoking  pipes,120  it  is  equally 
evident,  that  those  of  this  shape  were  so 
used,  if  we  may  be  guided  by  what  is 
known  of  similar  specimens  found  in  other 
localities. 


1 

VI 


\m 


FlG.  322.  —  Massachusetts,     j. 


12(1  See  chapter  xvi,  with  accompanying  plate  (xxi), 
of  Jones'  Antiquities  of  the  Southern  Indians,  for  a  detailed 
account  of  Stone  Tubes. 


PIPES.  331 

It  is  certainly  most  probable,  that  the  remarkable  series  of  clay-slate 
tubes,  found  at  Swanton,  Vermont,  and  described  in  detail  by  Professor 
Perkins,  were  used  as  smoking  pipes,  for  the  reason  that  in  all  of  them 
the  bore  is  not  of  uniform  size.  These  tubes  are  described  as  "all 
of  similar  form,  being  cylindrical ;  the  perforation,  at  one  end  about 
half  an  inch  in  diameter,  enlarges  to  nearly  an  inch  in  diameter  at  the 
other  end.  They  are  of  smooth,  hard  stone,  of  a  drab  color  in  some 
specimens,  bro\vn  in  others.  They  are  very  nicely  formed  and  finished, 
the  surface  being  smooth  and  almost  polished.  The  small  end  of  the 
bore  was  stopped  somewhat  imperfectly  by  a  stone  plug  ground  into 
shape."  (See  description  of  Shoshone  pipe  given  by  Lewis  and 
Clarke,  quoted  on  page  329.)  "The  length  of  the  tubes  varies  from 
seven  to  thirteen  inches.  Similar  tubes  have  been  found  on  one  of 
the  islands  in  Lake  Champlain,  and  near  Burlington,  Vermont."121 

These  tubes  have  also  been  found  in  New  York,  in  ancient  graves, 
and  associated  with  them  were  implements  of  the  same  general  char 
acter,  as  those  found  with  similar  specimens  in  Vermont.  Mr.  S.  L. 
Frey122  has  given  us  an  excellent  description  of  the  results  of  relic- 
hunting  in  the  Mohawk  valley ;  and  in  the  examination  of  certain 
graves,  he  found  a  stone  tube,  "  four  and  a  quarter  inches  long ;  the 
perforation  has  at  one  end  a  diameter  of  one-quarter  of  an  inch, 
gradually  enlarging  until  it  reaches  at  the  other  end,  a  diameter  of  three- 
quarters  of  an  inch."  With  this  tube,  which  was  unquestionably  used 
as  a  smoking  pipe,  were  a  "  sea  shell,  somewhat  modified  for  a  drinking 
vessel,  its  longest  diameter  being  four  inches,  a  beaver's  tooth,  several 
bone  awls,  three  arrowheads,  a  number  of  flint  flakes,  pieces  of  a 
tortoise  shell,  some  fragments  of  deer-horn  implements,  a  bone  gouge 
and  a  large  wing  bone  of  a  bird."  A  subsequent  examination  of  the 
graves  resulted  in  finding  a  second  tube,  apparently  of  the  same 
material,  but  different  in  shape  and  length.  This  second  specimen 
"is  eight  and  one-half  inches  long,  and  one  inch  in  diameter,  having 


121  Perkins,  /.  c  ,  p.  734. 

American  Naturalist,  vol.  xiii,  p.  637. 


332 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 


a  bore  of  five-eighths  of  an  inch  at  one  end  and  two-eighths  of  an  inch 
at  the  other.  It  is  smoothly  made  but  has  no  polish  at  present,  being 
covered  with  an  earthy  coat,  and  in  patches  with  a  thick  concrete  of 
lime  and  sand.  With  this  tube  were  found,  lying  side  by  side,  three 
hornstone  implements,  of  large  size,  and  pointed  at  each  end."  A 
stone  tube,  of  striped  slate,  is  recorded  as  having  been  found  at  Tren 
ton,  N.  J.,123  six  inches  in  length  by  one  and  one-half  inches  in  greatest 
diameter,  near  one  end,  thus  making  the  implement  slope  abruptly. 
This  specimen,  except  in  material,  is  identical  with  the  smoking  pipes 
found  in  southern  California ;  and  does  not  differ 
materially  from  the  New  York  or  Vermont  speci 
mens. 

A  series  of  clay-slate  tubes  were  recently  found 
in  a  grave  near  Bridgeport,  Gloucester  Co.,  New 
Jersey,  which  are  in  size,  color  and  character  of 
perforation  much  like  those  found  in  Vermont. 
Others,  of  steatite,  said  to  have  been  found  in 
other  Indian  graves  in  the  same  neighborhood, 
are,  one  and  all,  unquestionable  frauds.     Several 
of  the  latter  have  found  their  way  into  various 
private  cabinets.    The  genuine  clay-slate  exam 
ples  are  at  present  in  the  collection  of  Wm  S. 
Vaux,  esq.,  of  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
FiS-  323  represents  an  admirable  example  of  steatite  pipe,  which  is 
of  unusual  interest  in  that  it  is  a  connecting  link,  as  it  were,  between  the 
tubular  pipes,  such  as  the  preceding  and  the  plain  bowls,  with  a  side 
stem-hole,  as  fig.  320.    This  specimen,  which  is  made  of  light,  mottled, 
gray   steatite,  is  very    highly  polished,  and    symmetrical    in    outline. 
The  cavity  is  quite  large  (the  sides  being  very  thin),  and  terminates 
in  a  narrow  stem-hole  extending  to  the  lower  end  of  the  specimen. 
There  is  also  a  lateral  stem-hole  of  greater  diameter,  opening  into  the 
bowl  just  above  the  commencement  of  the  other. 


FIG.  323.  —  Pennsyl 
vania.  -}-. 


123Abbott.     Nature,  vol.  xiv,  p.  154,  fig.  i.     London,  1876. 


PIPES.  333 

Smoking  pipes  of  this  pattern  are  seldom  met  with,  only  two 
examples  having  been  found,  to  the  author's  knowledge,  in  the  locali 
ties  treated  of  in  the  present  volume. 

This  specimen  was  found  near  Bainbridge,  Lancaster  Co.,  Penna., 
by  Mr.  F.  G.  Galbraith,  and  is  now  in  the  collection  of  the  late  Pro 
fessor  Haldeman. 

The  occurrence  of  pipes  made  of  metal  is  of  great  interest,  from  the 
fact  that  while  copper  pipes  are  recorded  as  having  been  in  use  by  the 
Manhattan  Indians,  no  specimens  are  now  known  to  be  in  collections. 
In  a  foot-note  to  page  45  of  Smithsonian  Contributions  to  Knowledge, 
No.  284,  Dr.  Ran  remarks  that  "the  navigators  who  first  visited  the 
Atlantic  coast  of  North  America  noticed  copper  pipes  among  the 
natives  ;  as  for  instance,  Robert  Juet,  who  served  under  Hudson  as 
mate  in  the  Half  Moon.  Such  pipes  must  be  very  rare.  There  are 
none  in  the  Smithsonian  collection." 

In  the  museum  at  Cambridge,  in  a  large  series  of  wooden  pipes 
from  Alaska,  are  several  which  have  the  bowls  formed  of  sheet  copper 
(P.  M.  No.  1858),  but  whether  any  of  these  are  of  an  antiquity  ante 
dating  European  contact  is  very  doubtful.  Occasionally,  plain  clay 
pipes  have  been  found  in  graves,  which  were  partially  encased  in  broad 
copper  bands  ;  and  it  is  very  probable  that  pipes  thus  ornamented 
were  seen  by  the  early  voyagers  from  Europe,  who  mistook  them  for 
pipes  made  wholly  of  metal. 

At  Cambridge,  there  is  preserved  a  rare  and  most  interesting 
specimen  of  a  pipe  (P.  M.  No.  14172),  which  bears  a  great  resem 
blance  to  the  plain  clay  pipe,  fig.  324.  This  specimen  is  made  of 
sheet  lead  carefully  rolled,  so  that  the  symmetry  of  the  bowl  and  stem 
is  preserved.  The  specimen  was  found  at  Revere,  Massachusetts. 
The  appearance  of  this  specimen  is  such  as  to  suggest  that  it  is  of 
Indian  manufacture,  although  made  of  course  after  association  with  the 
Europeans. 

The  occurrence  of  what  have  been  termed  "compound  calumets," 
or  "council-pipes,"  has  been  reported  in  the  American  Antiquarian, 
vol.  i,  p.  113.  One  such  is  described  as  made  "of  a  hard,  light  gray, 


334  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

almost  white  steatite.  It  is  cylindrical  or  tapering  in  form,  and  nearly 
six  inches  in  height.  About  two  inches  from  the  base  *  *  *  extends 
a  horizontal  groove  in  which  have  been  pierced  four  equidistant  stem- 
holes,  which  extend  obliquely  downwards  to  the  base  of  the  bowl. 
;  The  size  of  the  specimen,  and  the  existence  of  four  orifices 
for  the  insertion  of  stems,  prove  conclusively  that  it  was  not  an 
ordinary  pipe,  but  was  in  all  probability  smoked  in  some  formal 
ceremony." 

If  there  were  any  historical  evidence  that  such  pipes  ever  had  been 
used,  there  might  then  be  no  reason  for  looking  with  suspicion  upon 
the  above  described  specimen,  and  even  if  it  be  genuine,  it  is  scarcely 
necessary  to  conclude  that  the  four  stem-holes  were  simultaneously 
used.  Three  of  them  may  have  been  plugged  with  some  ornamental 


FIG.  324.  —  New  Jersey,     -f. 

carving,  just  as  certain  of  the  moundbuilder  pipes  were  decorated  with 
pearls  and  polished  pebbles ;  and  the  California  pipes  were  inlaid  with 
mother-of-pearl.  Had  this  one  specimen  only  been  obtained,  it  might 
be  classed  with  the  remarkable  pipe  sculptures  that  occur  so  sparingly 
along  the  Atlantic  seaboard ;  but  the  fact  that  from  the  same  general 
locality  others  of  various  patterns  have  also  mysteriously  turned  up,  as 
the  result  of  explorations  of  certain  parties,  it  is  very  evident,  that  as 
a  class,  these  "compound  calumets"  are  frauds;  and  were  possibly 
copied  from  the  specimen  here  mentioned,  which  was  the  first  dis 
covered,  and  which,  if  genuine,  in  spite  of  the  existence  of  four  "  stem- 
holes,"  need  not  necessarily  be  a  so-called  "council  pipe." 

Fig.  324  represents  a  pattern  of  small  clay  pipe,  of  which  fragments 
are  found  in  great  abundance  but  which,  as  a  perfect  or  nearly  perfect 
example,  is  but  seldom  seen.  The  excellence  of  workmanship  exhibited 


PIPES.  335 

in  these  clay  pipes  is  very  uniform,  and  leads  to  the  belief  that  they  were 
moulded  by  other  than  the  native  potters.  There  is  much  difference 
of  opinion  on  this  point.  When,  however,  a  large  series  is  brought 
together,  and  the  character  of  the  ornamentation  carefully  examined, 
it  is  found  that  there  exist  many  grades  of  excellence  in  this  respect, 
though  neither  is  beyond  the  capabilities  of  the  redman.  Further 
more,  both  Holm  and  Kalm  distinctly  refer  to  pipes  of  clay,  made  by 
the  Indians.  Fig.  324  is  an  example  of  these  pipes  which  has  no 
ornamentation.  They  are  quite  rare,  in  comparison  with  those  which 
have  the  bowl  covered  with  carefully  stamped  lines,  dots  and  other 
depressions. 

The  clay,  of  which  these  small  pipes  are  made,  is  of  a  much  finer 
quality  than  that  used  in  the  ordinary  earthenware,  already  described. 
Except  occasional  traces  of  very  fine  white  sand,  such  as  occurs 
naturally  in  many  of  the  veins  of  clay,  there  appears  to  be  no  foreign 
substance.  When  burnt,  these  pipes  are  of  a  yellow-gray,  or  a  brick 
red  color,  generally  the  former ;  but  there  appears  to  be  no  difference 
in  the  quality  of  the  pipes,  whatever  the  color  when  burned.  The 
great  variety  of  tints  in  the  clay,  blue,  black,  and  red,  all  burn  to  a 
yellow,  when  now  used  for  drain-pipe  and  terra-cotta  ware. 

Figs.  325  to  329,  inclusive,  represent  fragments  of  clay  smoking 
pipes  and  stems,  and  show  the  various  patterns  of  decorations  used  in 
ornamenting  them.  In  all  cases,  this  work,  whether  mere  lines,  or 
combinations  of  lines  and  dots,  is  very  superior  to  that  on  any  of  the 
pottery  found  in  the  same  locality,  so  much  so,  in  fact,  that  were  it  not 
that  there  are  different  grades  of  merit  in  the  work,  it  might  be  ascribed 
to  European  origin. 

Attention  has  already  been  called  to  stone  pipe-bowls,  as  oc 
casionally  occurring,  though  quite  rare  in  comparison  with  those  that 
have  a  stem  complete  in  itself,  or  one  that  can  be  used  by  the  aid  of  a 
supplementary  stem  of  wood  or  reed. 

Even  more  rare,  it  is  believed,  are  clay  pipe-bowls,  without  stems 
or  mouth-pieces  of  the  same  material,  such  as  figure  330. 

This  beautiful  specimen,  which  is  really  artistically  designed,  varies 


336 


PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 


not  only  in  the  shape  of  the  bowl,  and  especially  in  the  base,  but  is  of 
harder  clay  than  those  that  have  been  figured.  An  interesting  feature 
of  this  specimen  is  the  small  hole  passing  through  the  base,  below  the 
large  hole  intended  for  the  stem  or  mouth-piece.  Ornate  as  this  pipe- 
bowl  still  is,  by  reason  of  its  graceful  shape,  it  was  probably  not  suf 
ficiently  so  in  the  eyes  of  its  primitive  owner.  By  means  of  a  cord 


FlG.  326.  —New  Jersey.     |. 


FIG.  327.  —  New  Jersey. 


FIG.  328. — New  Jersey.     {-.  FIG.  329.  —  New  Jersey.     \. 

passed  through  this  small  opening,  feathers,  beads  and  brilliant  trinkets 
of  any  kind,  were  readily  suspended  ;  and  this,  it  is  believed,  is  the  ob 
ject  of  this  small  perforation. 

These  holes  are  not  unusual,  when  the  stems  of  stone  pipes  are 
thin,  flat  and  projecting,  as  in  fig.  313.  They  are  of  frequent  occur 
rence,  also,  in  the  more  modern  Catlinite  pipes. 


PIPES. 


337 


FlG.  331.  —  Penna.     y. 


In  the  collection  of  North  American  smoking  pipes  in  the  museum 
at  Cambridge,  are  examples  of  this  pattern,  made  of  steatite  and 
slate.  One  specimen  (No.  15697)  from  Lafayette,  Indiana,  is  strik 
ingly  similar  to  fig.  330.  The  pattern  is  one  not 
characteristic  of  any  locality,  but  does  not  occur 
abundantly  anywhere. 

Dr.  Chas.  Rau,  in  Smithsonian  Contributions 
to  Knowledge,  No.  287,  figures  a  pipe  of  this 
shape,  made  of  argillaceous  stone  and  found  in 
Ohio.  He  believes  that  pipes  of  this  character  may  not  be  very 
old  ;  adding  that  "  the  type  occurs  among  the  pipes  carved  by  modern 
Indians." 

Fig.  330  was  found  in  Lancaster  Co.,  Pa.,  and  is  now  in  the  cabinet 
of  the  late  Prof.  S.  S.  Haldeman,  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  the  op 
portunity  of  describing  and  figuring  this  specimen. 

Throughout  New  Jersey  and  New  England 
generally,  there  is  not  found  that  variety  of  forms 
in  smoking  pipes,  which  is  comparatively  com 
mon  in  many  portions  of  New  York.  Mr.  Frey124 
found  among  the  many  relics  of  the  Indians, 
once  living  in  the  Mohawk  valley,  many  fine  ex 
amples  of  clay  pipes  of  intricate  and  ornate  de 
signs.  He  refers  to  the  Mohawk  Indians  as 
"showing  great  ingenuity  in  making  pipes,  the 
bowls  of  which  are  frequently  in  the  form  of  a 
bird  or  mammal,  and  these  always  being  very 
true  to  nature." 

Fig.  331  represents  an- interesting  earthen  frag 
ment,  probably  broken  from  a  pipe  such  as  re 
ferred  to  by  Mr.  Frey.  Its  color,  consistency  and  size  all  suggest 
that  it  was  a  portion  of  the  bowl  of  a  small  clay  pipe,  such  as  is 
represented  on  page  334,  although  no  perfect  pipes,  having  a  like 


FIG.  330.  —  Penna. 


124  Frey,  /.  c.t  Amer.  Naturalist,  vol.  xii,  p.  781,  figs.  8  to  n  inclusive, 
22 


338  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

ornament  have  been  found,  or  are  known  to  the  author,  from  New 
Jersey  or  the  New  England  states,  notwithstanding  they  are  so 
abundant  in  New  York. 

In  the  Magazine  of  American  History,  for  Sept.,  1878,  there  is  given 
a  figure  of  an  Iroquois  pipe  with  a  raccoon's  head  projecting  from  one 
side  of  the  bowl,  in  such  a  position  as  to  face  the  smoker,  when  the  pipe 
was  used.  Mr.  Stone  refers  to  this  specimen  as  a  ''rough  and  uncouth 
Iroquois  pipe  in  the  shape  of  a  raccoon's  head  which  was  found  at  Lake 
George ;"  and  draws  some  unwarranted  conclusions  from  it,  when 
compared  with  a  somewhat  better  finished  specimen  of  an  Iroquois 
pipe  of  essentially  the  same  type. 

Mr.  Schoolcraft,  in  his  History  of  the  Indian  Tribes,  Pt.  II,  p.  90, 
and  plate  47,  briefly  describes  and  figures  specimens  of  Iroquois  pipes, 
one  of  which  has  a  bear's  head,  of  the  same  character  of  finish  as  the 
specimen  of  animal  head  represented  in  figure  331.  Referring  to  the 
objects  on  plate  47  of  his  work,  Schoolcraft  remarks,  "the  articles 
grouped  in  plate  47,  from  Ellisburgh,  Jefferson  county,  New  York, 
exhibit  the  same  ready  tact  in  moulding  images  of  the  human  face  and 
the  distinctive  heads  of  animals  on  the  plastic  basis  of  clay  pipes,  which 
is  found  extensively  in  that  area."  In  Vermont,  also,  "  a  few  fragments 
of  pipes  have  been  found  made  of  terra-cotta."  One  is  a  perfect 
specimen  resembling  a  trumpet,  and  similar  to  some  figured  by 
Schoolcraft.125 

Whether  the  first  pipes  were  merely  shapeless  lumps  of  clay, 
hardened  by  much  use,  and  thus  suggested  the  workable  stones  as  a 
more  desirable  material  for  their  manufacture,  is  perhaps  uncertain  ;  but 
there  is  evidence  that  the  two  forms  of  stone  and  clay  were  used  at 
one  and  the  same  time,  and  that  those  of  clay  continued  in  use,  after  the 
others  had  ceased  to  be  manufactured  in  large  numbers.  While  it  is 
very  rare,  that  we  come  across  a  rude  and  apparently  very  old  clay 
pipe — one  that  might  possibly  antedate  the  earliest  stone  pipes  —  there 
is  probably  nothing  so  modern  or  more  common,  in  the  whole  range 

125  Schoolcraft.     Hist.,  etc.,  of  Indian  Tribes,  Part  i,  pis.  8  and  10. 


PIPES.  339 

of  Indian  handiwork,  as  it  is  still  found  in  the  Atlantic  coast  states. 
Many  were  probably  made  after  the  introduction  of  clay  pipes,  of  some 
what  similar  patterns,  by  the  Europeans. 

Clay  pipes  of  the  plainer  patterns  are  not  as  abundant  in  Massa 
chusetts  and  Connecticut,  as  in  New  York  and  New  Jersey ;  but  they 
are  sufficiently  well  represented  in  the  contents  of  ancient  graves,  and 
in  "surface  finds,"  to  be  accounted  as  not  uncommon. 

Clay  tubes  are  occasionally  met  with,  which  in  many  cases  were 
undoubtedly  used  as  pipes,  but  others  are  of  such  a  small  calibre,  that 
their  purpose  is  problematical. 

Among  the  many  objects  of  interest  gathered  from  mounds  in  south 
eastern  Ohio,  by  Prof.  E.  B.  Andrews,126  is  a  clay  tube,  which  is 
described  as  a  cylinder  of  yellow  clay,  but  slightly  baked,  if  at  all. 
One  end  is  closed,  except  a  small  circular  opening.  Mr.  F.  W. 
Putnam127  has  remarked  in  a  foot-note  to  Professor  Andrews'  report 
that  "these  tubes  of  stone,  clay,  and  copper  discovered  by  Professor 
Andrews  approach  so  near  to  the  long  tube-like  pipes  made  of  stone, 
and  still  used  by  the  Utes,  that  I  can  hardly  refrain  from  classing  them 
with  pipes.  The  principal  difference  consists  in  these  tubes  having 
what  would  be  the  mouth-piece  made  by  the  termination  of  the  pipe 
itself ;  while  in  the  stone  tubes,  that  are  unquestionably  pipes,  the  mouth 
piece  is  probably  made  by  inserting  a  hollow  bone  or  reed.  These 
tube-like  pipes  have  been  found  in  numbers  in  the  old  burial-places  of 
California,  and  there  has  recently  been  one  received  at  the  museum, 
which  was  collected  in  Massachusetts.  *  *  *  *  In  Squier  and  Davis' 
'Ancient  Monuments  of  the  Mississippi  valley'  several  of  these  stone 
tubes  are  described,  one  of  them  identical  with  figure  5  (the  clay  tube} 
figured  in  this  article,  and  the  authors  of  that  work  also  suggest  that 
these  tubes  may  be  pipes." 

Two  specimens  of  elaborately  ornamented  clay  tubes,128  found  in 
the  same  grave  in  New  Jersey,  were  about  seven  inches  in  length,  and 

126  Andrews.     Tenth  Report  of  Peabody  Museum,  p.  63,  fig.  5.     Cambridge,  Mass. 

127  Putnam.     Tenth  Report  of  Peabody  Museum,  p.  63,  fig.  5.     Cambridge,  Mass. 

128  Abbott.     Nature,  vol.  xiv,  p.  154.     London,  1876. 


340 


PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 


of  unusual  interest,  as  they  have  so  far  proved  unique.  In  each  case, 
there  was  a  projecting  ornament  which,  prior  to  their  inhumation,  appar 
ently,  had  been  partially  broken  off,  so  that  its  precise  character  could 
not  be  ascertained.  Unlike  most  tubes,  the  diameter  of  the  bone  was 
uniform  and  very  small,  and  their  use  therefore,  as  smoking  pipes,  was 
impracticable. 

A  smaller  and  plainer  pattern  of  clay  tube  found  frequently  upon 
the  surface  is  represented  in  fig.  332.  This  specimen  has  much  the 
appearance  of  the  stems  of  such  plain  clay  pipes  as  have  been  de 
scribed  ;  but  it  is  not  improbable  that  many  such  specimens  as  fig.  332 


FIG.  332.  —  New  Jersey.    -\-. 

were  made  as  they  now  are,  and  were  used  in  various  ways.  Many 
probably  are  simply  elongated  beads,  and,  if  originally  pipe-stems,  have 
had  the  fractured  end  carefully  smoothed,  until  now  no  trace  of  a  broken 
surface  can  be  detected.  These  tubes  have  been  considered  also  as 
"whistles"  (Amer.  Naturalist,  vol.  ix,  fig.  150)  and  certainly  can  be 
very  readily  used  as  such. 

The  specimen  here  figured  was  found  in  an  Indian  grave,  associated 
with  the  usual  types  of  implements  occurring  in  ancient  burials.  This 
would  seem  to  indicate  that  whether  a  utilized  pipe-stem  or  an  imple 
ment  de  novo,  it  had  some  special  use. 


CHAPTER     XXIII. 


DISCOIDAL  STONES. 


THE  name  "Chungke  Stones,"  given  to  the  peculiar  biconcave  stone 
disks  found  in  the  southern  and  western  states,  and  also  applied  to  the 
more  abundant  plain  stone  disks  which  occur  in  scanty  numbers,  in  the 
middle  states,  is  certainly  calculated  to  mislead  unless  it  be  admitted 
that  the  plain  disks,  and  those  that  are  biconcave  and  occasionally 
perforated,  are  one  and  the  same  implement. 

Col.  C.  C.  Jones,  jr.,129  in  his  most  admirable  account  of  these  stones, 
classes  them  together ;  and  with  those  of  most  elaborate  finish,  and 
biconcave,  he  associates  such  plain  stone  disks  as  have  been  found  in 
New  Jersey  and  northward  of  that  state. 

But  two  examples  of  these  plain  discoidal  stones  have  been  examined, 
that  were  found  in  New  Jersey.  Others,  however,  are  known  to  have 
been  found,  and  passed  into  private  collections.  These  are  all  per 
fectly  plain  circular  stones,  with  straight  sides  and  level  margins.  Of 
two  examples  from  Gloucester  Co.,  New  Jersey,  one  is  quite  smoothly 
polished  and  accurate  in  outline  ;  the  other  has  the  margin  somewhat 
sloping,  and  so  will  not  remain  in  an  upright  position,  when  placed 
upon  a  level  surface.  Both  these  specimens  are  made  of  compact 
sandstone,  and  are  quite  heavy. 

Fig.  333  represents  a  specimen  of  these  discoidal  stones  found  in 
New  Jersey,  which  is  not  distinguishable  from  hundreds  of  similar 
implements  from  the  southern  states.  It  is  the  same  "hard,  black, 
close-grained  stone,  capable  of  receiving  a  fine  polish"  which  "  formed 
the  favorite  material,  especially  along  the  coast,"  as  described  by  Col. 
C.  C.  Jones,  jr.,  in  his  work  on  the  southern  Indians. 

129  Jones.     Antiquities  of  the  Southern  Indians,  p.  348,  pi.  xx.     New  York,  1873. 

(341) 


34  2  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

A  remarkably  fine  specimen,  of  the  same  character  as  fig.  333,  is  a 
polished  example,  made  of  trap  rock,  in  the  collection  of  the  late 
Professor  Haldeman.  In  a  letter  from  Professor  Haldeman.  bearing 
date  of  May  29,  1880,  he  there  states,  "I  have,  through  the  kindness 
of  the  family,  lately  got  '  the  Wittmer  disk '  of  black  stone ;  two  sur 
faces  flat  and  polished,  edge  convex — better  finished  than  anything 
allied  from  this  locality."  This  specimen,  which  measures  about  four 
inches  in  diameter,  by  nearly  two  inches  in  thickness,  was  found  "  about 
four  miles  below  Columbia,  Lancaster  Co.,  Pa."  It  was  presented 
to  Professor  Haldeman  by  Mr.  Jacob  H.  Wittmer,  the  inheritor  of  the 
farm  "  upon  which  it  was  found  by  his  grandmother  when  a  little  girl, 


FIG.  333.— New  Jersey,     -f. 

about  the  year  1765.  The  locality  is  well  known  for  arrowheads, 
European  beads,  etc." 

This  disk  or  chungke  stone  will  compare  favorably,  in  every  respect, 
with  the  best  specimens  of  this  pattern  of  these  objects,  from  the 
southern  states. 

Are  we  to  consider  these  discoidal  stones,  found  in  New  Jersey,  as 
chungke  stones  ?  From  the  several  accounts  given  of  the  game  in  which 
these  stones  were  used,  there  does  not  appear  to  be  any  reason  why  a 
plain  disk  would  not  have  served  the  purpose  as  readily  as  a  biconcave 
one  ;  and  as  there  is  also  a  regular  gradation  from  some  that  are  even 
convex  to  those  that  are  deeply  concave  and  even  perforated,  it  is  not 
improbable  that  all  were  used  in  playing  the  one  game,  or  possibly, 


DISCOIDAL   STONES. 


343 


some  modifications  of  it.  If  such  be  the  case,  and  the  presence  of 
such  specimens  as  fig.  333  indicates  that  the  Indians  of  the  Delaware 
valley  were  chungke  players,  then  we  ought  also  to  find  the  concave 
stones,  that  are  considered  as  the  typical  form  of  this  implement ; 
even  if  they  are  not  found,  then  this  fact  can  scarcely  be  considered  as 
a  proof  that  the  plain  disks  were  not  gaming  stones.  Did  they  not 
occur  in  the  southern  states,  associated  with  the  biconcave  specimens,  it 
might  more  reasonably  be  supposed  that  they  had  some  other  purpose. 
In  this  connection  also,  it  is  well  to  recall  the  fact  that  the  Delaware 
valley  was  occupied  at  one  time  by  bands  of  Shawnee  Indians,  who 
very  probably  played  this  game  during  their  northern  sojourn,  and  may 
have  introduced  it  among  their  Lenape  neighbors.  As  the  early 
travellers  and  missionaries  among  the  resident  Delawares  or  Lenni 
Lenape  make  no  reference  to  the  game,  it  is  not  likely  that  it  was  ever 
so  prominent  a  pastime  among  them,  as  it  was  among  the  southern 
tribes. 


UNIVERSITY 


CHAPTER    XXIV, 


INSCRIBED   STONES. 


WHEN  the  class  of  ceremonial  objects  come  to  be  described,  one 
specimen  will  be  found  the  most  interesting,  perhaps,  of  all,  viz. :  a 
carved  stone  commemorating  a  treaty  between  two  tribes  (chap.  XXV, 
p.  363).  Attention  will  also  be  frequently  called  to  the  series  of 
marginal  notches  on  gorgets  and  other  forms  of  ornamental  stones, 
which  are  believed  to  have  a  "meaning,"  and  are  not  simply  one  of 
the  few  methods  adopted  by  the  Indian,  to  ornament  such  stones  as 
they  wore  about  their  persons,  or  paraded  on  ceremonial  occasions. 
Stones,  however,  other  than  those  of  a  ceremonial,  or  ornamental 
character,  with  marks,  dots,  lines,  figures  either  singly  or  in  combina 
tions,  are  of  very  rare  occurrence.  Pictured  rocks  such  as  are  found 
in  various  rivers,  and  along  their  banks,  are  not  included  in  this  cate 
gory.  But  one  engraved  stone  has  been  found  in  central  New  Jersey, 
so  far  as  known,  among  the  thousands  of  ordinary  stone  implements 
that  have  been  gathered.  This  specimen  bears  some  slight  resem 
blance  to  the  picture  writings,  as  described  by  Schoolcraft,  Catlin  and 
others. 

As  the  result  of  his  investigations,  Catlin130  remarks  :  "I  have  been 
unable  to  find  anything  like  a  system  of  hieroglyphic  writing  amongst 
them ;  yet,  their  picture  writings,  on  the  rocks  and  on  their  robes, 
approach  somewhat  towards  it."  The  engraved  stone  figured  on 
page  347,  is  supposed  to  be  much  the  same  as  a  "bark  letter,"  of 
one  of  which  Sir  John  Lubbock131  gives  an  illustrated  account,  quoting 
in  part  from  Schoolcraft.  This  letter  has  a  large  number  of  figures  of 
men  and  certain  animals  on  it,  and  thus  has  the  appearance  of  being 

130  Catlin.     North  American  Indians,  vol.  2,  p.  246,  4th  edition,  8vo.    London,  1844. 

(345) 


34  PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 

a  more  advanced  production  in  this  method  of  communicating  ideas. 
This,  perhaps,  is  more  apparent  than  real,  for  it  is  not  improbable  that 
the  straight  lines  in  the  engraved  tablet  here  figured  represent  rivers 
or  creeks,  and  the  arrow  the  direction  taken  by  some  Indians,  who 
desired  to  inform  a  party,  following  in  their  track,  of  the  route  they  had 
taken.  This  is  in  accordance  with  translations  of  bark-letters  as  given 
by  Schoolcraft,  and  which  are  doubtlessly  correct. 

That  a  few  slight  scratches  upon  stone  or  wood,  as  made  by  an 
Indian  might  have  to  him,  or  to  another,  considerable  meaning,  and  its 
significance  be  readily  construed  by  one  of  these  people,  under  certain 
circumstances,  is  readily  seen  by  the  account  given  by  Kalm,  in  his 
North  American  Travels.  This  writer  says  of  the  Delaware  Indians, 
"  their  good  natural  parts  are  proved  by  the  following  account,  which 
many  people  have  given  me  as  a  true  one.  When  they  send  their 
ambassadors  to  the  English  colonies,  in  order  to  settle  things  of  con 
sequence  with  the  governor,  they  sit  down  on  the  ground  as  soon  as 
they  come  to  his  audience,  and  hear  with  great  attention  the  governor's 
demands  which  they  are  to  make  an  answer  to.  His  demands  are 
sometimes  many.  Yet  they  have  only  a  stick  in  their  hand  and  make 
their  marks  on  it  with  a  knife  without  writing  anything  else  down. 
But  when  they  return  the  next  day  to  give  in  their  resolutions,  they 
answer  all  the  governor's  articles  in  the  same  order,  in  which  he 
delivered  them,  without  leaving  one  out,  or  changing  the  order,  and 
give  such  accurate  answers,  as  if  they  had  an  account  of  them  at  full 
length  in  writing." 

While  in  this  case,  these  notches  in  a  stick  were  mere  aids  to  memory, 
it  shows  that  the  fundamental  idea  of  expressing  thoughts  or  recording 
facts,  by  means  of  signs,  was  not  novel  to  them,  and  renders  the  sug 
gested  explanation  of  the  marks  upon  the  inscribed  stone,  here  de 
scribed,  as  plausible. 

Fig.  334  represents  this  inscribed  stone.  It  is  a  nearly  oval  slab  of 
micaceous  slate,  about  an  inch  thick,  seven  inches  in  length  and  four 

131Lubbock.     Origin  of  Civilization,  and  ed,,  p.  43,  fig.  9.     London,  1870. 


INSCRIBED    STONES. 


347 


and  three-fourths  inches  in  greatest  width.  The  edges  have  been 
rudely  bevelled,  and  the  specimen  brought  to  its  present  shape  before 
the  figures  and  lines  were  inscribed  upon  it.  They  consist  of  a  series 
of  well-defined  lines,  one  extending  the  entire  length  of  the  slab,  and 
dividing  it  into  two  nearly  equal  parts.  There  are  also  three  others 


FIG.  334. — New  Jersey.     5. 

that  cross  this  one  at  right  angles,  and  a  fourth  short  one,  with  "split" 
ends,  on  the  left-hand  side,  below  the  centre  of  the  slab. 

The  most  noticeable  feature  of  the  inscribed  side  of  the  stone  is  the 
well-defined  arrow,  extending  obliquely  across  the  stone  from  right  to 
left.  Without  this  the  stone  would  certainly  be  wholly  unintelligible, 
but  the  arrow  seems  to  explain  the  specimen,  or  rather  furnishes  a 
basis  for  conjecture. 


248  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

As  the  specimen  exhibits  no  attempt  at  ornamentation  whatever, 
and  considering  that  it  was  found  in  a  swamp  but  lately  reclaimed, 
and  on  the  margin  of  a  well-known  Indian  trail,  it  can  scarcely  be 
doubted  that  the  markings  upon  it  were  placed  there  to  convey  infor 
mation  to  those  for  whom  it  was  intended, — in  a  word,  that  if  is  a  "  birch- 
bark  letter"  written  upon  stone,  and  a  very  primitive  attempt  at  picture 
writing. 


CHAPTER    XXV. 


CEREMONIAL  OBJECTS. 


UNDER  this  vague  title  has  been  classed  a  group  of  perforated  stone 
objects,  very  artistically  designed,  which  vary  greatly  in  size  and  pattern, 
and  yet  have  so  much  in  common,  that  we  appear  to  be  justified  in 
considering  them  as  intended  for  practically  the  one  purpose. 

However  uncertain  we  may  be  as  to  that  purpose,  there  is  sufficient 
evidence  in  the  objects  themselves  to  show  that  they  were  not  weapons, 
and  it  is  equally  improbable  that  they  were  ever  used  in  any  such 
manner,  as  would  warrant  our  calling  them  "implements,"  and  hence 
the  use  of  such  names  in  connection  with  these  objects,  as  "toma 
hawk,"  "amazonian  axe,"  and  "hatchet,"  is  to  be  avoided  as 
altogether  misleading. 

It  must  not  be  understood  that,  in  giving  the  above  name  to  the 
objects  here  described,  they  were  the  only  ceremonial  objects  in  use 
among  the  native  tribes  of  our  Atlantic  coast.  Many  of  the  pendants, 
gorgets  and  perforated  plates  of  mica,  were  very  probably  worn  or 
carried  only  on  particular  occasions,  and  were  not  all  ordinary  personal 
ornaments. 

Perhaps  one  of  the  most  interesting  features  of  these  objects  is 
their  very  general  distribution,  throughout  the  country,  east  of  the 
Mississippi  river.  They  may,  indeed,  be  found  far  westward  of  that 
river,  but  the  known  localities,  in  which  they  are  of  comparatively 
common  occurrence,  are  all  on  the  eastern  half  of  the  continent.  In 
the  mounds  of  the  Ohio  valley,  it  is  said,  some  of  these  objects  oc 
cur  occasionally.  Many  of  them  are  exceedingly  beautiful  in  design 
and  finish.  They  are  therefore  one  of  those  peculiar  forms,  neither 
weapon  nor  implement,  which  are  common  to  both  the  moundbuilders 

(349) 


35°  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

and  the  Indians.  In  the  case  of  simple  weapons,  or  primitive  agricul 
tural  or  domestic  implements,  the  same  form  might  readily  occur 
independently,  but  that  a  purely  ceremonial  object  of  the  same  pattern 
should  be  designed  is  not  so  probable  ;  and  the  fact  of  the  presence  of 
these  perforated  stone  objects  in  mounds  is  either  evidence  of  a  close 
relationship  between  the  two  people,  or  else  it  must  be  admitted  that 
these  objects,  when  found  along  our  Atlantic  coast,  were  either  brought 
there  by  the  later  Indians,  or  were  copied  by  them  from  originals  seen 
in  the  interior.  If  it  were  necessary  to  admit  that  the  Indians,  who 
were  in  possession  of  this  country,  at  the  date  of  its  discovery,  were 
of  more  recent  origin  than  the  moundbuilders,  then  the  supposition 
that  they  had  adopted  a  moundbuilder's  implement  might  hold  good ; 
but  as  yet,  there  is  not  one  jot  or  tittle  of  evidence  that  proves  that  the 
native  races  of  the  northern  Atlantic  seaboard  were  not  as  old  as 
the  moundbuilders.  The  latter  seem  to  be  the  older,  simply  because 
the  traces  of  antiquity  on  the  seaboard  have  been  overlooked,  or 
strangely  disregarded,  because  so  uninviting,  when  compared  with  the 
rich  harvest  of  strange  objects  that  rewards  the  explorers  of  the  western 
mounds. 

Throughout  all  the  river  valleys,  east  of  the  Alleghany  mountains, 
these  perforated  ceremonial  objects  are  found  in  about  equal  abun 
dance.  In  every  locality,  where  there  is  a  navigable  stream,  there  was 
an  Indian  village.  Often  there  were  several,  as  at  the  mouth  of  each 
of  the  smaller  creeks,  and  wherever  these  villages  stood,  we  may  con 
fidently  expect  to  find  fragments,  at  least,  of  these  pretty  objects. 

In  New  England,  they  are  probably  not  so  frequently  found,  though 
they  are  by  no  means  uncommon.  In  Maine,  besides  those  of  com 
mon  form,  one  has  been  found  of  remarkable  character.132  Professor 
Perkins133  has  described  them  from  the  Champlain  valley ;  and  the 
Archaeological  museum  at  Cambridge,  Mass.,  contains  several  from 
Massachusetts  and  Connecticut.  Throughout  New  York,  they  are  of 


132  Putnam.     Bulletin  of  the  Essex  Institute,  vol.  iii,  p.  92.     Salem,  Mass. 

133  Perkins.     Amer.  Naturalist,  vol.  v,  p.  12,  figs.  3  and  4. 


CEREMONIAL   OBJECTS.  351 

common  occurrence.  The  collection  of  stone  implements  from  New 
Jersey,  in  the  Museum  at  Cambridge,  contains  forty-seven  specimens ; 
many,  of  course,  in  a  fragmentary  condition.  Of  these,  some  are  so  far 
unfinished  that  the  perforation  has  not  been  begun,  or  is  only  partially 
complete ;  thus  demonstrating  the  interesting  fact,  that  these  objects 
were  otherwise  finished,  before  the  perforation  was  begun. 

Dr.  Chas.  H.  Stubbs  of  Wakefield,  Lancaster  Co.,  Penn.,  has  been 
fortunate  enough  to  find  a  very  fine  series  of  these  implements,  mostly 
made  from  the  Potsdam  slates.  They  are  in  the  various  stages  of 
manufacture,  and  show  that  the  slate  was  first  coarsely  chipped,  then 
pecked  or  more  delicately  chipped  until  the  outline  was  secured ;  after 
which  they  were  carefully  polished,  and  finally  perforated.  This  was 
done  not  only  with  a  hollow  reed,  but  sometimes  with  a  solid  stone  drill. 
It  would  seem  from  their  unusual  abundance  in  some  portions  of  the 
Susquehanna  river  valley,  that  many  were  made  there  for  barter  with 
other  tribes  or  communities,  as  was  the  case  with  some  forms  of 
chipped  implements,  as  the  arrowheads. 

Of  the  series  of  specimens  from  New  Jersey,  the  greater  number 
are  made  of  steatite,  and  of  the  striped  Silurian  slate,  so  much  used 
for  all  ornamental  objects.  Not  all,  however,  are  of  such  easily 
worked  material.  Marble,  diorite,  compact  serpentine,  quartz  and 
jasper  are  all  represented  in  the  series  referred  to.  One  small  speci 
men  is  beautifully  \vorked  from  a  yellow  jasper  pebble,  and  has  been 
drilled  with  a  reed  or  other  hollow  drill,  with  sand  and  water.  Being 
broken  in  the  line  of  the  perforation,  the  striae  are  very  plainly  seen. 
While  many  of  these  objects  are  of  beautifully  colored  stone,  others, 
of  equally  fine  workmanship,  are  made  from  the  dullest  tinted  sand 
stone  pebbles.  When  color  was  so  greatly  prized  in  every  article  of 
personal  adornment,  it  seems  strange  that  so  large  a  number  of  these 
objects  should  have  been  made  of  plainly  tinted  stones,  when  other 
minerals,  equally  desirable  in  other  respects,  and  of  bright  colors,  were 
always  to  be  had  in  any  quantity. 

Fig.  335  represents  a  symmetrically  designed  example  of  these 
ceremonial  objects,  made  of  steatite  of  a  yellow-brown  color.  It  may 


352 


PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 


be  taken  as  a  fairly  representative  specimen,  so  far  as  the  shape  is 
concerned.  The  perforation  in  this,  as  in  the  majority  of  steatite 
specimens,  has  been  made  with  a  hollow  drill,  worked  in  but  one 
direction.  When,  however,  material  so  hard  as  jasper  was  perforated, 
the  drill  was  used  from  each  side.  In  many  cases,  the  boring  from  the 
two  directions  was  not  correct,  and  did  not  meet,  so  that  the  hole 
through  the  object  was  more  or  less  crooked. 

The  design  of  such  an  object  as  fig.  335  is  very  clear.  The  perfora 
tion  could  only  have  been  intended  for  the  insertion  of  a  handle,  and 
the  stone  thus  mounted  must  have  been  carried  as  a  truncheon,  as  the 


FIG.  335.  —  Massachusetts.     |. 


material  is  too  soft  and  the  blade  is  too  thin  to  have  been  of  any 
practical  use  as  an  axe.  When  we  consider  how  very  fond  of  dances, 
parades  and  displays  the  Indians  were,  it  is  very  natural  that  they 
should  have  had  many  objects  intended  for  use  on  such  occasions,  and 
for  no  other  purpose. 

Fig.  336  represents  a  beautiful  example,  of  a  somewhat  different 
shape  from  the  preceding.  It  is  made  of  a  uniform,  compact  sand 
stone,  and  has  been  carefully  polished  until  every  trace  of  unevenness 
has  been  obliterated.  The  upper  and  lower  edges  are  flattened  ;  and 
the  ends,  which  vary  in  outline,  are  so  narrowed  that  it  almost  amounts 
to  a  cutting  edge.  The  perforation  is  very  accurate. 


CEREMONIAL   OBJECTS. 


353 


While  occasionally  one  of  these  long  and  narrow  specimens  is 
even  of  greater  length  than  fig.  336,  the  great  bulk  of  them  are  shorter ; 
and  hence  it  may  be  considered  as  of 
about  the  maximum  size,  measured 
from  tip  to  tip.  Of  many  that  I  have 
measured,  but  four  were  longer  than 
this  specimen. 

Figs.  337  and  337*2  represent  another 
example  of  this  form  of  perforated 
stone.  It  is  shorter  and  broader  than 
the  preceding,  but  it  is  well  made,  and 
drilled  with  that  smoothness  and  beauty 
which  are  marked  features  of  fig.  336. 
The  outline  drawing  of  a  sectional  view 
of  the  specimen  shows  that  the  perfor 
ation  is  somewhat  oval,  instead  of  per 
fectly  circular,  and  the  diameter  of  the 
drilling  is  a  little  less  at  the  apex  than 
at  the  base.  The  drilling  of  this  hole 
must,  therefore,  have  been  done  with 
something  different  from  a  section  or  a 
number  of  sections  of  reed  of  identical 
diameter.  This  specimen  has  probably 
been  drilled  by  the  application  of  sand 
and  water,  in  connection  with  a  solid 
drill,  as  a  pointed  wooden  stick,  but  the 
perforation  begun  below  has  been  con 
tinued  but  half  the  distance  and  re 
commenced  on  the  other  side  as  is 
usual  in  such  cases. 

Fig.  338  represents  a  very  gracefully 

j      .  ,  ..  FIG.  336. — New  Jersey.    4-. 

designed  example,  made  "of  a  greenish 

sandstone,  and  as  smooth  as  the  material  allows."134     It  is  eight  and 


134  Perkins,     Amer.  Naturalist,  vol.  v.,  p.  15. 


354 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 


one-fourth  inches  long.     The  points  of  this  specimen  are  smoother 
than  the  general  surface,  and  are  supposed  therefore  to  show  that  it 

had  been  put  to  some 
use.  This  is,  consid 
ering  the  size  and 
shape  of  the  object, 
improbable,  if  not  im 
possible. 

Of  the  specimens 
of  this  character  found 
in  Ohio,  very  many 

FIG.  337.-New  Jersey.     |.  ar£  of  thig    pattern    . 

others  have  the  wing-like  projections  cylindrical  instead  of  flattened. 
A   duplicated    pattern   of   these    implements    consists    in   two    such 


FIG.  337a. 

specimens  as  fig.  338  placed  together,  by  their  convex  faces ;  so 
that  the  perforations  of  the  two  shall  be  continuous.  Examples  of 
this  pattern  are  figured  in  Mac 
Lean's135  work  on  the  Archae 
ology  of  Ohio.  No  similar 
specimens  have  been  found,  I 
believe,  in  New  Jersey,  or  in  any 
of  the  New  England  states. 

Fig.  339  represents  a  specimen  of  common  shape,  yet  noticeably 
different  in  not  being  perforated  for  a  handle,  but  simply  grooved  upon 


FIG.  338.  —  Vermont. 


135  Mac  Lean.     The  Moundbuilders,  p.  170,  figure  45.     Cincinnati,  Ohio,  1879. 


CEREMONIAL   OBJECTS. 


355 


one  side ;  the  groove,  too,  being  narrow  and  very  shallow.  The 
specimen  is  of  hornstone,  and  was  first  pecked  into  its  present  shape, 
and  subsequently  polished  over  the  whole  surface  of  one  side  and  one- 
half  of  the  surface  of  the  other  side.  The  groove  is  polished  over  its 
entire  surface.  The  margins  are  all  blunt,  and,  although  quite  regular 
in  outline,  have  not  been  carefully  finished. 

While  the  appearance  of  fig.  339  suggests  that  it  might  have  been 
split,  and  that  the  groove  was  the  result  of  an  accident,  it  is  evident 
that  such  is  not  the  case,  as  a  number  of  these  articles,  grooved  in  the 
same  manner,  have  been  found,  and  in  them  we  have  a  simple  form  of 


FIG.  339.  —  New  Jersey,    -j. 


what,  in  its  highest  finish,  is  an  elaborately  designed  object.  Some 
indeed,  of  the  grooved  specimens,  are  so  very  primitive,  that  it  is  not 
improbable  they  are  the  productions  of  children,  and  were  simply  toys. 
Those,  for  instance,  that  are  in  shape  and  size  like  fig.  339,  but  made 
of  a  soft  chalky  slate,  might  readily  be  fashioned  by  any  child. 

Fig.  340  represents  an  example  of  what  is  believed  to  be  the  same 
object  as  those  described  on  the  preceding  pages.  It  is  of  very  dif 
ferent  shape,  however,  and  may  have  had  a  different  "meaning,"  if 
there  was  any  special  significance  in  any  of  them.  This  specimen  is 
four  inches  in  length,  and  nearly  as  broad  at  the  top,  as  shown  in  the 


356 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 


illustration.  Specimens  of  this  pattern  are  frequently  found  through 
out  New  England,  and  are  of  common  occurrence  in  New  Jersey. 
While  .generally  made  of  Silurian  striped  slate,  or  steatite,  occasionally 
more  compact  mineral  was  used.  The  labor  of  finishing  such  an  ob 
ject,  when  made  of  diorite  or  jasper,  must  have  been  enormous.  Of 
this  pattern,  the  two  largest  specimens  measured  respectively,  seven 
and  six  and  one-half  inches  in  length,  by  six  and  five  inches  in  breadth. 
The  larger  specimen  was  finished  to  the  polishing,  but  the  perforation 
has  not  been  begun.  In  the  smaller  the  perforation  was  complete. 
The  winglike  portions  of  these  broad  ceremonial  objects  vary  consider 
ably  in  width,  and  in  some  examples,  they  are  so  narrow,  that  the 

object  looks  like  a  tube  with  parallel 
ridges  on  each  side,  extending  its 
whole  length. 

A  second  example  of  these  large 
and  broad  ceremonial  stones  found  at 
Monkton,  Vermont,  is  represented  of 
actual  size,  in  fig.  341. 

Its  length  is  four  and  one-fourth 
inches  ;  the  width  at  the  larger  end 
three  and  one-half  inches,  at  the 
smaller,  two  and  one-eighth  inches. 

The  greatest  thickness  is  at  the  larger  end  and  measures  one  inch,  and 
is  one- eighth  less  at  the  opposite  end. 

The  perforation,  which  is  complete,  is  five- eighths  of  an  inch  in 
diameter  at  one  end,  and  somewhat  smaller  at  the  other,  as  shown 
in  the  supplementary  figs.  34 1#-^.  It  is  nearly  circular,  and  retains 
the  marks  of  the  drill.  One  side  of  the  specimen  is  nearly  plain,  with 
a  slight  rounding  at  the  edges  only.  The  opposite  side  slopes  to  the 
edge  from  a  line  corresponding  to  that  of  the  perforation.  This  feature 
of  one  fiat  and  one  curved  or  bulging  surface  is  common  to  the  great 
majority  of  the  specimens  of  this  pattern. 

Fig.  341  is  smoothly  polished,  though  some  of  the  tool  marks 
made  in  shaping  the  object  still  remain.  The  material  from  which 


FIG.  340.  —  Vermont. 


CEREMONIAL   OBJECTS. 


357 


it  is  made  is  a  soft,  green,  argillaceous  slate.    One  portion  of  the  stone 
is  of  a  light,  the  other  of  a  dark,  green  shade. 

For  the  use  of  the  cuts  representing  this  object,   I  am  indebted 
to  the  kindness  of  Mr.  J.  M.  Currier,  of  Castleton,  Vermont. 


FIG.  341. — Vermont. 


Fig.  342  represents  a  flattened  oval  piece  of  striped  slate,  which,  on 
account  of  the  perforation,  is  classed  with  the  specimen  just  described. 
Of  itself,  it  is  not  a  particularly  attractive  object,  and  it  seems  reason 
able  to  suppose  that  such  decorations  were  attached  to  it,  or  to  the 


358  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

handle  that  is  supposed  to  have  passed  through  the  perforation ;  as 
the  maker's  fancy  might  suggest.  It  is  a  little  curious  that  no  mention 
is  made  of  these  objects  by  any  of  the  writers  who  visited  this  country, 
in  the  seventeenth  century.  Such  prominent  and  common  objects,  as 
they  once  were,  judged  by  the  numbers  now  found,  could  scarcely 


FIG.  34itf. 

have  been  overlooked  had  they  been  then  in  use.  Why  they  should 
have  been  discarded,  prior  to  European  contact  and  the  introduction 
of  gaudy  metallic  baubles,  is  a  mystery.  Referring  to  the  numbers  of 
these  "ornamental  axes,"  Col.  C.  C.  Jones,  jr.,136  remarks,  "it  maybe 
that  the  American  war-chief  suspended  from  his  belt  one  of  these 


FIG.  341*5. 

delicate  implements,  and  regarded  it  with  emotions  near  akin  to  those 
which  possessed  the  breast  of  the  Scandinavian  warrior  as  he  cherished 
and  displayed  his  victory-stone."  This  possibly  explains,  in  a  few 
words,  the  entire  purport  of  these  interesting  objects. 

Fig.  343  represents  a  similar  specimen,  found  near  Lawrence,  Mass. 
The  peculiarity  of  this  specimen  is  in  the  hollow  on  one  side,  as  shown 

136  Jones.     Antiquities  of  the  Southern  Indians,  p.  284.     New  York,  1873. 


CEREMONIAL    OBJECTS. 


359 


FIG.  342.  —  New  Jersey.     \. 


in  the  illustration.     On  the    opposite  side,  there  is  a  corresponding 

ridge,  but  not  equal  in  height 

to  the  depth  of  the  depression. 

As  is  seldom  the   case,  when 

the  specimens  are  small,  the 

perforation,  which  has   been 

made  from  each  side,  is  not 

straight,  the  two  ends  not  join 
ing  accurately. 

Fig.   344  represents  a  very 

interesting  form,  of  totally  dif 
ferent  shape  from  any  of  the 

preceding    examples.     This 

specimen  is  an  oval  or  ovoid 

polished  piece  of  the  striped 

or  Silurian  slate,  so  commonly  used  for  making  ornamental  objects. 

The  two  halves,  if  we  divide  it  through  the  centre  of  the  perforation 

which  extends  from  the  top  to  the 
bottom,  will  be  found  identical  in 
every  particular  of  shape  and  di 
mension.  The  base  of  the  speci 
men  is  somewhat  more  flattened 
than  the  top,  and  appears  to  have 
been  in  contact  with  another 
stone,  as  it  is  worn  off  smoothly, 
but  with  a  variable  width.  This 
worn  surface  is  of  a  lighter  tint 
than  the  other  portions  of  the 
specimen.  The  perforation  is  a  lit 
tle  less  in  diameter  than  that  of  fig. 
336,  but  it  is  of  equal  beauty  of 


FIG,  343.  —  Massachusetts.    \. 


workmanship.      The    diameter   is 
the  same  throughout,  the  perfo 
ration  being  accurately  circular,  and  showing  the  rings  which  indicate 


36° 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 


drilling  with  a  hollow  tube.  For  a  short  distance  from  the  base, 
extending  upward  along  the  sides  of  the  perforation,  the  "rings"  are 
not  distinguishable,  except  by  the  closest  scrutiny,  and  appear  to  have 
been  worn  away  by  the  rubbing  of  whatever  passed  through  the  hole 
as  a  handle.  From  point  to  point,  this  specimen  measures  two  and 
five-eighths  inches,  and  across  the  middle  one  inch  and  a  half.  The 
diameter  of  the  perforation  is  just  one-half  an  inch,  or  one-third  of 
the  total  width  of  the  specimen  itself. 

Fig.  345  represents  one  of  the  most  elaborately  carved  and  other 
wise  interesting  specimens  of  perforated 
ceremonial  objects,  that  have  yet  been 
discovered.  It  was  found137  "at  the 
point  where  Lake  Wankewan  ('Measly 
Pond')  originally  emptied  into  Lake 
Winnipiseogee,  New  Hampshire,  at  a 
depth  of  about  two  feet,  in  the  sandy 
drift  at  the  head  of  the  lake,  where  the 
ground  apparently  had  not  been  dis 
turbed  for  centuries." 

"The  stone  is  of  an  oval  form, 
smoothly  finished  upon  the  surface,  and 
of  as  perfect  contour,  as  if  turned  in  a 
lathe.  Its  dimensions  are  three  and 
seven- eighths  inches  in  length,  and  two 

FIG.  344- -New  Jersey.    |.  and   three.eighths    inches    in    thickness. 

The  material  is  a  silicious  sandstone  of  a  greenish  clay-drab  color 
and  of  fine  grain.  The  sculptures  are  mostly  in  bas-relief,  upon  a 
ground  sunk  below  the  surface  of  the  stone,  and  of  a  higher  grade 
of  art  than  usual  in  Indian  workmanship.  It  is  difficult  to  conceive 
that  such  work  could  be  done  without  the  aid  of  metal  tools.  A 
hole  was  drilled  through  the  longest  diameter  which  tapered  uni 
formly  three-eighths  of  an  inch  at  the  larger  end,  to  one-eighth  at 


"7  Tapley.     American  Naturalist,  vol.  vi,  p.  696,  figs.  139—142  inclusive. 


CEREMONIAL   OBJECTS. 


3<Si 


the  smaller,  the  use  of  which  was  probably  the  same  as  in  the  class  of 
stones  known  as  'gorgets,'  to  which  we  should  refer  it.  Around  the 
aperture  at  each  end  was  a  border  of  points  like  a  star,  as  will  be  seen 


FIG.  345.  —  New  Hampshire.    -}-, 

by  reference   to   the  first  of  the    four   illustrations   representing   the 
specimen. 

"  Fig.  345  is  intended  to  give  an  idea  of  the  form  of  the  stone,  the 
figures  at  the  sides  being  the  profiles  of  figs.  346  and  348.  The 
Indian  'mask'  has  the  characteristic  outline  and  projecting  mouth  seen 
in  other  specimens  of  Indian  art.  The  wavy  lines  on  the  forehead  are 
supposed  to  indicate  the  hair.  The  finish  of  the  whole  is  quite 
elaborate. 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


"  In  figs.  346,  347  and  348,  the  dotted  line  is  intended  to  indicate 
the  position  of  the  pictures  on  the  stone.  The  lines  of  the  'wigwam1 
are  regularly  drawn  and  the  surface  is  '  pricked  up '  or  roughened.  The 


FIG.  346.  —  New  Hampshire.     ^-. 

circle  below  is  perfectly  rounded  and  supposed  to  represent  the  full 
moon,  although  every  one  has  the  privilege  of  forming  his  own  theories 
in  regard  to  the  significance  of  the  symbols. 

"Fig.  347  has  a  delineation  of  four  'arrows'  inverted.  Underneath 
this  is  a  'new  moon,'  and  the  two  round  dots  that  may  represent  stars. 
Below  this  are  two  'arrows/  crossed,  and  a  convolute  or  coil  which 
may  be  a  'serpent.' 

"Fig.  348  shows  an  'ear  of  corn,'  nicely  cut,  and  in  a  depressed 


CEREMONIAL   OBJECTS.  363 

circle  are  three  figures,  the  central  one  representing  a  ' deer's  leg,'  and 
the  others  of  doubtful  interpretation. 

"As  in  illustration  of  the  surmises  of  those  who  are  interested  in 


FIG.  347. —  New  Hampshire.     }-. 

deciphering  such  inscriptions  we  give  the  following,  which  is  certainly 
ingenious  and  even  plausible. 

"  It  is  suggested  that  the  stone  commemorates  a  treaty  between  two 
tribes.  The  reversed  arrows  in  figure  347  symbolize  place  ;  the  moon 
and  stars  the  date  ;  the  crossed  arrows  a  union  of  the  two  forces  for 
aggressive  or  defensive  purposes,  etc.  The  wigwam  might  indicate  the 
place  where  the  treaty  was  consummated,  and  the  corn  and  other 
emblems  the  feast  by  which  it  was  commemorated." 


364 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


Prof.  F.  W.  Putnam,138  in  calling  attention  to  this  peculiar  relic  of 
the  New  England  Indians,  has  remarked  that  it  appears  "  to  be  far 
more  elaborate  than  anything  he  had  known  as  the  work  of  the  earlier 


FIG.  348. —  New  Hampshire,      j. 

inhabitants  of  New  England.  On  this  stone  we  have  the  character 
istic  Indian  face,  similar  to  the  few  others  that  have  been  found  in  New 
England,  with  an  attempt  at  an  artistic  result  in  the  finish  of  the  stone 
and  the  other  figures  carved  upon  it,  that  would  certainly  lead  us  to 
infer  that  its  maker,  if  an  Indian,  was  of  a  far  higher  caste  as  an  artist, 
than  the  distorted  and  childlike  outlines  of  animals  and  men,  ordinarily 

13«  Putnam.     Bulletin  of  Essex  Institute,  vol.  iv,  p.  92.     Salem,  Mass.,  1872. 


CEREMONIAL   OBJECTS.  365 

cut  or  painted  by  them,  have  heretofore  impressed  us  as  possible  ;  and 
were  it  not  for  the  fact,  that  the  face  is  so  similar  to  undoubted  Indian 
representations  of  the  human  face  which  we  have  from  New  England, 
he  would  be  inclined  to  think  that  it  might  have  been  the  work  of 
some  other  race.  The  position  in  which  the  stone  was  found  marked 
it  quite  an  ancient  piece  of  workmanship  ;  and,  from  its  shape,  and  the 
fact  of  its  having  a  hole  through  the  centre,  he  believed  it  would  be 
classed  with  the  singular  perforated  stones  called  gorgets,  found 
throughout  the  country,  always  more  or  less  elaborately  finished,  and 
were  supposed  to  have  been  worn  on  the  breast  as  an  ornament  or 
badge  of  office." 

The  artistic  merit  of  the  various  carvings  on  stone,  executed  by  the 
Indians,  is  so  variable,  that  it  is  unsafe,  from  this  cause,  to  infer  that 
any  production  may  have  some  other  than  an  Indian  origin.  That 
they  had  the  ability  to  invent  tasteful  designs  and  to  execute  them 
creditably,  is  fully  shown  by  some  specimens  of  pipe  sculpture  that 
have  been  preserved.  If  we  compare  the  pipe  with  a  turtle  carved 
upon  the  stem,  fig.  317,  with  the  caricatures  of  human  faces,  rudely 
cut  upon  flat  oval  pebbles,  described  in  this  chapter,  it  is  almost 
impossible  to  imagine  that  the  three  specimens  have  the  same  origin. 
As  an  artistic  production,  the  carved  face,  from  New  York,  de 
scribed  on  a  succeeding  page,  equals  that  of  the  "gorget"  from  Lake 
Winnipiseogee  ;  and  the  curious  carved  "bird  stones,"  common  to 
our  Atlantic  coast  states,  are,  as  a  class,  even  of  greater  merit. 

Fig.  349  represents  another  example  of  this  form  of  carved  orna 
mental  stone,  made  of  green  steatite,  which  is  of  much  simpler  design, 
but  more  nearly  approaches  the  New  Hampshire  specimen,  than  either 
of  the  three  carved  faces  from  New  Jersey,  illustrations  of  which  are 
given.  As  will  be  seen  by  reference  to  the  illustration,  the  perforation 
extends  through  the  long  diameter  of  the  stone,  and  is  of  large  size, 
thus  suggesting  its  close  relationship  with  the  ceremonial  objects  of 
various  patterns  described  in  this  chapter.  Like  the  preceding  very 
elaborate  specimen  from  Lake  Winnipiseogee,  it  has  decorative  mark 
ings  upon  it  other  than  the  face  figured  in  the  accompanying  illustra- 


366  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

tion.     These  consist  of  shallow  depressions  which  may  possibly  be 
parts  of  an  unfinished  attempt  to  represent  the  human  face. 

The  fact  that  one  surface  only  of  the  thin  slabs,  that  are  per 
forated  for  suspension,  is  ornamented  in  any  manner,  apparently  in 
dicates  that  they  were  used  solely  as  personal  ornaments,  and  rested 
upon  the  clothing  of  the  wearer.  This  would,  of  course,  prevent  the 
under  side  of  any  pendant  from  being  exposed,  and  render  useless  any 
marks  put  upon  it ;  but  in  this  and  the  preceding  examples,  as  in  all 
the  objects  which  are  here  considered  of  ceremonial  import,  and  not 
personal  ornaments,  the  perforation  is  of  greater  diameter,  and  ex 
tends  lengthwise  through  the  specimens,  so  that  a  handle  or  staff  could 

be  used  as  a  means  of  carrying  them 
about  in  a  conspicuous  manner;  and 
thus  exhibit  all  sides  equally  well. 

If  it  be  objected  that  we  have,  in 
fig.  349,  too  small  an  object  to  be  used 
in  the  manner  suggested,  then  in  this 
specimen,  we  have  an  interesting  ex 
ample  of  a  particular  form  of  carved 
stones,  which  may  be  differently  classed, 
in  accordance  with  their  size.  In  this 
case,  fig.  349  should  be  considered  as 

FIG.  349.— Massachusetts,    f. 

an  ornament. 

Fig.  349  was  found  by  Rev.  B.  F.  DeCosta,  at  Wellfleet,  Cape 
Cod,  Mass.,  and  by  him  kindly  presented  to  the  museum  of  Archae 
ology  at  Cambridge,  Mass. 

Common  as  are  these  perforated  ceremonial  stones,  they  neverthe 
less  were  not  so  readily  made  as  arrowheads,  or  the  thin  sandstone 
disks  which  so  often  did  duty  as  ornaments.  When  broken,  they  were 
not  always  discarded,  but  were  often  utilized  as  ornaments. 

Fig.  350  represents  an  ornament,  as  it  is  now  supposed  to  be,  which 
was  originally  a  ceremonial  object,  of  an  unusual  pattern,  made  of 
Silurian  striped  slate.  The  specimen  has  been  broken  in  the  line  of 
the  perforation,  and  the  fractured  edges  have  subsequently  been 


CEREMONIAL    OBJECTS. 


367 


ground    down,  until   they  are   as   smooth    and  well  finished  as  any 
other   part.     Having   no  perfo 
ration,  whereby  it  could  be  sus 
pended,  it   is  not  clear,  how  it 
was  worn  or  used. 

Fig.  351  represents  another 
of  these  fragments,  which  has 
been  subsequently  utilized. 

The  broken  edges  of  this 
specimen,  which  has  been  fract- 

FIG.  350. —  New  Jersey, 

ured  along  the    perforation, 
have   been  carefully  smoothed    down,    and   through   the   middle   of 
one  of  them  a  small  hole  has  been  drilled.     This  has  been  drilled 

from  both  sides,  showing 
that  the  specimen  was 
broken  after  the  larger  per 
foration  had  been  com 
pleted. 

Such  an  object  as  fig.  35 1 
might  have  been  used,  as 

FlG.  351.  — New  Jersey.     \. 

were  fossil  sharks  teeth, 
shells  and  pebbles,  as  a  pendant,  or  one  of  several,  on  the  same 
necklace  ;  and  therefore  might  properly  be  referred  to  under  the  head 
of  ornaments. 


CHAPTER     XXVI. 


BIRD-SHAPED  STONES. 


UNDER  this  title,  which  is  not  accurately  descriptive,  though  of 
common  acceptance,  it  is  proposed  to  consider  a  class  of  carved  stone 
objects,  which  are  of  comparatively  frequent  occurrence  over  the  en 
tire  area  of  the  United  States,  east  of  the  Mississippi  river.  Their 
significance  has  been  discussed  more  than  that  of  any  other  form  of 
stone  implement  or  ornament  made  by  the  American  Indians. 

Schoolcraft139  has  designated  this  form  of  relic  as  a  handle  for  a 
knife,  the  blade  of  which  was  obsidian  or  jasper.  One  of  these 
"  knife-handles  "  is  figured,  found  on  Cunningham's  island,  lake  Erie, 
New  York,  which  is  considered  to  be  "  apparently  a  sacrificial  or  a 
flaying  knife."  The  relic  is  so  described,  although  there  is  no  indi 
cation  of  a  blade. 

By  many,  they  have  been  called  "  idols,"  and  strangely  enough, 
have  been  seriously  described  and  commented  upon  as  "  corn  husk- 
ers,"  although  their  use  as  a  husking  peg  would  tend  rather  to  retard 
than  facilitate  that  work,  as  none  have  yet  been  found  with  a  really 
sharp  point,  or  one  in  any  way  available  for  piercing  the  husks,  as  the 
common  hickory  peg,  now  used,  is  expected  to  do. 

Probably  Messrs.  Squier  &  Davis  14°  correctly  cover  the  whole 
ground  concerning  them,  in  stating  that  "  it  may  reasonably  be  con 
cluded  from  the  uniform  shape  of  these  articles,  and  from  their  appar 
ent  unfitness  as  implements,  as  also  from  the  wide  range  of  their 
occurrence,  that  they  were  invested  with  a  conventional  significance 
as  insignia,  or  badges  of  distinction,  or  as  amulets.  We  know  that  the 


139  Hist.  Condit.,  etc.,  N.  A.  I.,  vol.  iv,  p.  175,  pi.  xxiii,  fig.  2. 

140  Squier  &  Davis,  Anc.  Mon.  Miss.  Valley,  p.  239. 

24  (369) 


370 


PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 


custom  of  wearing  certain  stones  as  preventives  of  disease,  or  as  safe 
guards  against  accidents  or  the  malice  of  evil  spirits,  has  not  been 
confined  to  one  continent,  or  to  a  single  age.  It  is  not  entirely  ob 
literated  among  certain  classes  of  our  own  people.  Regal  authority 
is  still  indicated  by  rich  baubles  of  gold  and  gems.  It  matters  little 
whether  the  index  of  royalty  be  a  sceptre  or  a  simple  carved  and 
polished  stone,  so  that  it  is  sanctioned  with  general  recognition." 

In  a  description  of  archaeological  specimens  found  in  Michigan, 
Mr.  Henry  Gillman 141  has  described  one  of  these  bird-shaped  stones, 
"  formed  from  a  beautiful  piece  of  variegated  slate,  of  a  grayish-green, 
interstratified  with  veins  of  a  darker  shade,  and  is  neatly  made  and 
finely  polished ;"  and  further  remarks,  that  "  similar  ornaments  have 
been  found  throughout  the  United  States ;  and,  as  there  has  been 
considerable  discussion  as  to  their  use,  I  will  here  state  that  I  have 
learned  through  an  aged  Indian,  that  in  olden  time  these  ornaments 
were  worn  on  the  heads  of  Indian  women,  but  only  after  marriage. 
I  have  thought  that  these  peculiar  objects,  which  are  always  made  of 
some  choice  material,  resemble  the  figure  of  a  brooding  bird ;  a  fa 
miliar  sight  to  the  *  children  of  the  forest ; '  that  thus  they  are  emblem 
atic  of  maternity,  and  as  such  were  designed  and  worn." 

This  view  of  their  significance  has  been  met  with  considerable 
ridicule  on  the  part  of  some,  who,  however,  offered  no  better  expla 
nation  of  these  objects,  as  a  substitute.  Their  occurrence  in  graves, 
that  were  known  to  be  those  of  females,  by  the  fact  that  they  were 
not  associated  with  weapons  of  any  kind,  is  certainly  in  favor  of 
the  view  expressed  by  Mr.  Gillman.  In  a  local  publication,  the  au 
thor142  asked  for  information  with  reference  to  these  bird-shaped 
stones ;  and,  soon  after,  had  the  pleasure  of  receiving  from  Col.  Chas. 
Whittlesey  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  the  following : 

"Dr.  E.  Stirling,  of  this  city,  says,  such  bird  effigies,  made  of  wood, 
have  been  noticed  among  the  Ottawas  of  Grand  Traverse  Bay,  Michi- 


*1  Gillman.     Smithsonian  Annual  Report  for  1873,  p.  371.     Washington,  D.  C. 
2  Abbott.     Curiosity  Hunter.     January,  1878,     Rockford,   Illinois. 


BIRD-SHAPED    STONES.  371 

gan,  fastened  on  the  top  of  the  heads  of  women,  as  an  indication 
that  they  are  pregnant. 

"  All  of  the  stone  bird  effigies  I  have  seen  are  perforated  for  attach 
ment  to  some  other  object. 

"  No  doubt  all  the  ornamented  stones  of  polished  slate  with  holes 
for  attachment  had  a  meaning,  and  were  significant  of  something  per 
sonal  to  the  wearer." 

As  further  evidence  that  objects  having  this  significance  were  not 
unknown  to  many  of  the  Indian  tribes,  it  may  be  mentioned  that 
William  Penn  refers  to  a  custom  among  the  Shawnees  and  Delawares,. 
with  whom  he  formed  his  celebrated  treaty,  in  1682,  that  bears  indi 
rectly  upon  this  subject.  He  says,  "when  the  young  women  are  fit 
for  marriage,  they  wear  something  on  their  heads  for  an  advertisement, 
but  so  as  their  faces  are  hardly  to  be  seen,  but  when  they  please." 
(Harvey's  History  of  the  Shawnees,  p.  14,  Cincinnati,  1855.)  While 
there  is  nothing  to  imply  that  the  "something"  that  these  Indians  wore 
was  bird-shaped,  or  was  made  of  stone,  wood  or  cloth ;  it  does  add  to 
the  probability,  that  the  objects  now  under  consideration,  whether  bird 
or  mammal-shaped,  or  of  so  conventionalized  a  form  that  all  trace  of 
realism  is  lost,  do  have  some  such  significance  as  mentioned  by  Mr. 
Gillman. 

As  an  indication  that  these  bird-shaped  stones  were  not  knife- 
handles,  or  cOrn-huskers,  attention  has  been  called143  to  the  fact,  that 
halves  of  these  objects  have  been  carefully  ground  smooth  and  pol 
ished  on  the  fractured  end,  and  a  hole  subsequently  drilled  for 
suspending  them,  which  could  be  done  more  conveniently  through  the 
new  hole,  than  through  the  two  basal  perforations  common  to  all  of 
these  bird  effigies.  Easily  pleased,  as  the  Indian  doubtlessly  was,  in 
the  matter  of  decoration,  it  is  hardly  probable  that  a  broken  "husking 
peg  "  would  ever  have  been  used  as  a  charm  or  pendant ;  but  if  the 
unbroken  object  had  a  significance,  such  as  has  been  mentioned  by 
Mr.  Gillman  and  by  Col.  Whittlesey,  then  nothing  is  more  natural  than 

143  Abbott.     Nature,  vol.  xii,  p.  436,  fig.  2.     London,  1875. 


372  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

that   a   piece    of  one    should  have  been  utilized  in  the  manner  de 
scribed. 

Fig.  352  represents  the  common  form  of  these  so-called  bird-shaped 
stones,  much  reduced  in  size.  It  is  a  fraction  over  four  and  a  half 
inches  long.  The  body,  or  main  portion,  is  very  accurately  sloped 
to  the  back,  which  is  a  narrow  flat  ridge,  of  a  uniform  width  of  one 
thirty-second  of  an  inch.  The  "head"  of  the  specimen  is  nearly 
square,  and  not  unlike  the  head  of  a  blunt  muzzled  mammal  in 
shape.  The  knob-like  protuberances  stand  out  from  the  head  one- 
third  of  an  inch,  and  have  a  narrow  neck,  about  one-half  the  width  of 
the  "knob"  itself.  The  bottom  of  the  implement,  as  the  illustration 
shows,  is  flat.  There  is  at  each  end  of  the  specimen  a  small  hole, 
drilled  obliquely  upward  and  outward  from  the  flat  base. 


FIG.  352.  — New  Jersey.    {• 

This  specimen  was  found  near  Trenton,  N.  J.  On  the  bluffs  form 
ing  the  eastern  bank  of  the  Delaware  river,  south  of  Trenton,  N.  J., 
on  the  site  of  one  or  more  extensive  Indian  towns,  fractions  of  these 
bird- shaped  stones  in  great  numbers  have  been  found,  and  a  few  that 
are  only  "blocked-out."  All  are  of  brightly  colored  or  handsomely 
marbled  or  striped  stones,  and  none  are  without  some  degree  of  polish. 
The  size  varies  exceedingly,  the  largest  being  about  seven  inches  in 
length,  the  smallest  scarcely  three.  In  a  series  of  eighty-four  frag 
ments,  there  were  about  equal  numbers  of  each  of  the  sizes  mentioned, 
with  perhaps  a  slight  excess  in  the  numbers  of  those  of  medium  length, 
say  of  about  five  inches.  None  of  those  of  the  largest  size  were  too 
heavy  to  have  been  worn  upon  the  top  of  the  head,  an  objection  which 
has  been  urged  as  to  their  use  in  the  manner  suggested. 

Fig.  353  represents  an  interesting  specimen  of  one  of  these  bird- 


BIRD-SHAPED    STONES.  373 

effigies,  made  of  striped  Silurian  slate.  It  was  found  in  Cumberland 
Co.,  New  Jersey,  and  is  now  in  the  archaeological  museum  at  Cam 
bridge,  Mass.  Unlike  most  of  the  other  examples  of  this  class,  this 
specimen  has  not  the  eye-like  projections  from  the  side  of  the 
head.  Being  found  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Delaware  bay,  and 
not  far  from  the  ocean,  it  has  been  suggested  that  it  was  in 
tended  to  represent  a  " diver "  or  duck,  and  that  the  elongated  "neck" 
was  quite  characteristic  of  these  birds  when  rapidly  swimming.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  has  been  stoutly  maintained  that  it  was  a  "husking  peg," 
and  it  must  be  admitted,  that  it  is  better  adapted  to  this  use,  than 
either  the  preceding  specimen,  with  the  knobbed  protuberances  on  its 
head,  or  the  succeeding  one  with  its  broad  circular  base. 

The  fact  that  there  is  a  marked  individual  difference  in  all  these  bird- 


FIG.  353.  — New  Jersey,    7. 

shaped  stones  is  one  of  much  interest,  even  if  it  has  no  bearing  upon 
their  significance.  Of  a  very  large  number  of  specimens  examined,  no 
two  can  be  considered  as  strictly  alike,  although  most  forms  of  stone 
implements  can  be  very  readily  duplicated. 

Fig.  354  represents  one  of  these  bird-shaped  stones  found  in  Ver 
mont.144  "It  is  made  of  a  pretty  breccia  composed  of  light  and  dark 
material.  It  is  finely  wrought  and  very  smooth,  though  not  polished. 
The  upper  side  is  worked  to  a  sharp  edge,  from  which  the  sides  round 
outwards  towards  the  rectangular  base,  in  which  there  is  a  hole  at  each 
end  running  obliquely  through  it.  The  length  of  the  relic  is  four  and 
one-half  inches,  and  the  height  nearly  two  inches." 

144  Perkins.     Amer.  Nat.,  vol.  v,  p.  16,  fig.  6.     Salem,  Mass.,  1871. 


374  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

Fig.  355  represents  another  example  of  this  class  of  objects,  but  is 
more  like  a  mammal  than 'any  bird.  Specimens  with  a  broad  circular 
base,  like  figure  355,  are  of  more  common  occurrence  in  the  west,  than 
along  the  Atlantic  seaboard.  A  perfect  facsimile  of  this  specimen, 


FIG.  354.  —  Vermont, 


except  in  having  a  pointed  rather  than  blunt  nose  or  beak  (if  it  maybe 
so  considered),  is  among  the  interesting  series  of  grave  contents  found 
near  Swanton,  Vermont.  Another  from  Indiana  differed  only  in  being 
of  a  very  dense  granitic  rock,  of  a  dull  gray  color. 


FIG.  355.  — New  Jersey.     }. 

A  variety  of  this  form  of  ornamental  stone,  of  which  but  few  speci 
mens  appear  to  have  been  found  east  of  the  Ohio  valley,  consists  in 
the  supposed  tail  of  the  bird  being  repeated,  as  though  the  posterior 
halves  of  two  of  such  specimens  as  fig.  352  had  been  placed  end  to 


BIRD-SHAPED    STONES. 


375 


end.  This  is  certainly  a  highly  conventional  manner  of  representing 
a  bird,  but  that  such  two-tailed,  headless  examples  are  the  same  object 
really,  as  the  typical 
form,  is,  without 
doubt,  a  fair  infer 
ence.  (See  Smith 
sonian  Contributions 
to  Knowledge,  No. 
287,  fig.  21 1).  To 
this  latter  type  of 
these  so-called  bird- 
shaped  objects  must 
be  referred  the  inter 
esting  specimen,  figs. 
356  and  35 7. 

This  ornamental 
stone  bears  but  little 
resemblance  even  to 
those  modified  bird- 
shaped  objects,  which 
have  only  the  "  tails" 
of  the  supposed  birds 
represented ;  but  the 
characteristic  oblique 
perforations  at  the 
ends,  the  flattened 
base  and  slightly 
curved  upper  surface, 
are  well  defined. 

This    specimen    i  s 
made  of  a  fine  grained 
sandstone  of  an  olive- 
green  color,  and  is  carefully  worked   over  its   several  surfaces.     An 
interesting  feature  of  this  specimen  consists  in  the  series  of  narrow 


FIGS.  356  and  357.  —  New  Jersey, 


376 


PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 


and  now  indistinct  marginal  notches  extending  along  the  edge  of  that 
side  of  the  specimen  shown  in  fig.  356.  Other  than  these  is  a  series 
of  similar  cuts  or  grooves  of  different  lengths,  extending  down  the 
middle  of  the  back  or  upper  surface  of  the  specimen.  That  these 
are  probably  decorative  only  is  questionable. 

This  rare  form  of  ornament  was  found  near  Freehold,  Monmouth 
Co.,  N.  J.,  by  Rev.  S.  Lockwood,  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  an  oppor 
tunity  to  figure  and  describe  it. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 


GORGETS,  TOTEMS,   PENDANTS  AND  TRINKETS. 


INASMUCH  as  the  name  " gorget"  given  to  a  class  of  supposed  dec 
orative  stones,  or  insignia  of  office  or  rank,  has  been  so  generally 
adopted  by  American  archaeologists,  it  is  here  retained  as  the  specific 
designation  of  those  large,  thin  slabs  of  stone,  which,  having  two  or 
more  holes  through  them,  are  supposed  to  have  been  firmly  attached 
to  the  clothing,  and  not,  like  the  various  trinkets,  simply  suspended. 

Probably  nothing  in  the  whole  range  of  the  stone  implements  and 
ornaments  of  the  Indian  has  been  more  discussed  and  written  of  than 
these  simple  slabs  of  slate  and  sandstone.  That  they  were  really  insig 
nia,  as  the  designation  "gorget"  implies,  is  perhaps  not  known,  but 
it  is  quite  possible  that  such  was  the  case.  Certainly,  if  not 
badges,  they  were  merely  personal  ornaments.  Beyond  this  we  are 
not  warranted  to  theorize  concerning  them. 

The  following  suggestion  of  Schoolcraft 145  is  here  offered  as  cover 
ing  the  whole  ground ;  and,  adopting  it,  they  are  classed  as  one  form 
of  several  decorative  objects  described  in  this  chapter.  They  are 
"  one  of  the  forms  of  those  ancient  badges  of  authority,  to  which,  as 
a  generic  term,  the  modern  Algonquins  apply  the  name  Na-be-kow-a- 
gun.  The  native  tribes,  from  our  first  acquaintance  with  them,  evinced 
their  fondness  for  insignia  of  this  kind.  The  modern  medal  is  the 
result  of  a  compliance  on  our  part  with  this  passion." 

Fig.  358  represents  a  common  form  of  gorget.  This  specimen  is 
four  and  five-sixteenths  inches  long  and  one  inch  and  five-eighths 
wide  at  the  middle  ;  it  has  been  very  rudely  drilled  in  two  places  from 
each  side  until  the  depressions  met,  the  distance  between  the  holes 

145  Trans.  Amer.  Ethnol.  Society,  vol.  i.,  p.  401,  pi.  i.,  fig.  2. 

(377) 


378 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 


on  one  side  being  exactly  four-fifths  of  an  inch,  a  distance  noticed 
particularly  by  Squier  and  Davis,146  in  several  of  the  specimens  they 
figured.  They  remark,  "It  is  a  singular  fact  that  the  holes  in  the  three 
specimens  first  noticed,  as  also  in  some  of  those  which  follow,  are 

placed  exactly  four-fifths  of  an  inch 
apart.  This  could  hardly  have  been 
the  result  of  accident.  These  relics 
were  found  at  different  localities, 
several  miles  distant  from  each 
other."  If  this  similarity  of  distance 
between  the  perforations  was  inten 
tional,  it  would  seem  that  the  stone 
had  some  use  other  than  that  of  a 
breast-ornament  merely.  Certainly, 
in  such  case,  the  mere  distance  sep 
arating  the  holes  could  have  had  no 
special  use.  In  fig.  358  this  distance 
is  variable,  inasmuch  as  one  hole  is 
obliquely  drilled,  and  so  produces  a 
greater  space  between  the  two  per 
forations  on  one  side  than  on  the 
other. 

Fig.  358  is  made  of  reddish  sand 
stone  of  a  fine  grain,  and  is  suscep 
tible  of  high  polish.  Other  speci 
mens,  the  same  in  all  respects,  except 
material,  from  the  same  neighbor 
hood,  are  made  of  variegated  slate  ; 
and  in  one  case  the  striped  Silurian 
slate,  of  which  so  many  of  those  found  in  Ohio  are  made,  is  used. 
The  drilling  in  such  of  these  gorgets,  as  are  made  of  soft  slate,  is 
usually  very  irregular,  when  compared  with  that  of  specimens  made  of 


FlG.  358.  —  New  Jersey. 


146  Anc.  Mon.  Miss.  Valley,  p.  237. 


GORGETS,    TOTEMS,    PENDANTS    AND    TRINKETS. 


379 


a  harder  material.  Why  one  series  should  be  bored  with  great  accu 
racy,  and  the  other  so  indifferently,  is  indeed  puzzling  ;  all  the  more  so, 
as  the  material  that  is  easier  to  perforate  is  the  more  clumsily  worked. 

Figs.  359  and  360  represent 
the  two  sides  of  an  exceed 
ingly  interesting  specimen. 
As  the  illustrations  so  dis 
tinctly  show,  the  entire  sur 
faces  are  covered  with  incised 
lines,  so  closely  arranged  that 
their  purpose  is  probably  only 
decorative.  As  is  common  to 
a  majority  of  gorgets  and  of 
allied  trinkets,  the  margins  of 
this  specimen  are  cut  into 
deep,  closely  set  notches. 
The  theory  that  specimens  of 
this  character  were  firmly  at 
tached  to  the  dress  of  the 
wearer,  and  thus  exposed  to 
the  gaze  of  others,  only  upon 
one  side,  is  somewhat  contra 
dicted  by  the  fact  that  an  equal 
amount  of  decoration  is  found 
on  the  two  sides.  Were  the 
combinations  of  straight,  ob 
lique  and  zigzag  lines  less 
closely  placed,  and  fewer  in 
number,  portions,  at  least  of 
them,  might  be  considered  as  FlG>  35g  _  New  Jerbey>  i. 

a  record,  rather  than  an  orna 
ment,  especially  as  the  lines  are  by  no  means  as  distinct  as  in  the 
illustrations,  which  are  reproduced    from  a  photograph,  after  it  had 
been  carefully  chalked,  to  bring  out  clearly  the  narrow,  hairlike  lines. 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


Tne  surface  of  fig.  360  has  a  smaller  amount  of  supposed  orna 
mentation,  is  also  a  little  smoother,  and  is  nearly  a  perfect  level, 
between  the  perforations.  From  these  considerations,  it  would  ap 
pear  that  fig.  359  represented 
the  upper  and  fig.  360  the 
lower  side. 

Of  a  series  of  over  one 
hundred  of  these  gorgets  from 
New  Jersey,  this  alone  exhib 
its  any  trace  of  incised  lines, 
or  other  ornamentation,  other 
than  the  little  notches  about 
the  margins,  which  appear  to 
be  the  rule,  rather  than  the  ex 
ception.  This  specimen  was 
found  near  Freehold,  Mon- 
mouth  Co.,  N.  J.,  and  is  now 
in  the  cabinet  of  Prof.  Samuel 
Lockwood  of  that  place. 

Thin  plates  of  native  cop 
per  have  been  occasionally 
met  with  in  New  Jersey, 
which,  although  considerably 
smaller  than  the  gorget  here 
figured,  were  unquestionably 
ornaments,  and  used  in  es 
sentially  the  same  manner. 
They  are  mentioned  here 
from  verbal  descriptions  only, 
as  no  specimens  have  been 


FIG.  360.  —  New  Jersey,    j. 


preserved  in  our  museums.  In  Ohio,  copper  gorgets  of  the  usual 
size  are  frequent.  A  handsome  specimen  is  figured  among  the  illus 
trations  of  moundbuilder  relics  from  Ohio,  in  Mac  Lean's  volume  ;147 


147  MacLean.     The  Moundbuilders,  p.  164,  fig.  35.     Cincinnati,  1879. 


GORGETS,    TOTEMS,    PENDANTS    AND    TRINKETS.  381 

and  another  in  the  account  of  mound  explorations  in  Ohio,  by  the 
late  Prof.  E.  B.  Andrews.148 

Fig.  361  represents  an  interesting  example  of  a  gorget,  which, 
although  broken,  was  evidently  not  discarded.  The  lower,  curved 
and  unbroken  end  is  two  and  three-fourths  of  an  inch  in  width,  and 
notched  as  usual.  The  narrower  end,  where  the  fracture  occurred, 
has  been  carefully  ground  down,  and  now  has  as  good  a  polish  as  the 
uninjured  sides.  The  perforations,  four  in  number,  are  very  rudely 
executed.  They  have  appar 
ently  been  bored  in  pairs, 
those  near  the  middle  of  the 
plate  at  one  time,  and  the 
others  at  another.  The  latter 
are  more  evenly  bored,  and 
the  holes  are  straight.  In  the 
central  pair  the  perforations  are 
slightly  oblique.  The  marginal 
notches,  in  this  specimen,  are 
nine  in  number.  The  same 
number  of  notches  are  upon 
the  under  side,  but  they  are 
not  merely  continuations  of 
those  seen  in  the  illustration. 

While  far  from  being  disposed 

FIG.  361.  —  New  Jersey.     -7. 

to  credit  the  native  American 

tribes  with  any  advance  in  culture  beyond  what  the  traces  of  their  handi 
work  unquestionably  warrant  •  there  is  offered,  in  the  frequent  occur 
rence  of  these  marginal  notches,  an  opportunity  to  inquire  whether 
the  early  race  of  the  Atlantic  seaboard  did  habitually  record  promi 
nent  events,  in  the  way  indicated,  by  such  carefully-cut  notches  as 
characterize  the  great  majority  of  these  gorgets.  Have  these  notches 
a  significance,  or  are  they  merely  ornamental?  We  know,  indeed, 

145  Andrews.     Tenth  Annual  Report,  Peabody  Museum,  Cambridge,  Mass.,  1877. 


32  PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 

that  the  savage,  like  the  child,  is  "pleased  with  a  rattle,  tickled  with 
a  straw ;"  but  were  ideas  of  ornamentation  so  primitive,  that  he  could 
see  any  beauty  in  these  marginal  notches  ?  Is  the  theory,  that  they 
were  merely  decorative  in  character,  consistent  with  the  fact  that  the 
same  people,  who  cut  these  little  notches,  also  shaped  the  truly  beau 
tiful  ceremonial  and  bird-shaped  stones,  and  carved  lifelike  portraits 
of  both  men  and  animals  ? 

Gorgets  are  found  in  great  abundance  along  the  whole  Atlantic  coast. 
In  New  England  they  are  as  abundant  as  in  the  middle  states,  and 
perhaps  the  rich  regions  of  the  Ohio  valley  have  not  yielded  a  greater 
number.  In  the  Champlain  valley  of  Vermont  "  gorgets,  with  one 
hole  or  two,  are  found"  everywhere.149  "As  is  the  case  elsewhere, 
these  are  usually  made  of  some  compact,  fine-grained  stone  that  is 
capable  of  taking  a  smooth  polish.  Slate  is  the  most  common  mate 
rial  in  those  that  I  have  seen,  sometimes  a  red  roofing  slate,  often  a 
dark-greenish  talcose  slate  veined  with  black.  The  gorgets  with  one 
hole  are  less  common  and  less  elegantly  made  than  those  with  two, 
and  the  material  seems  less  carefully  selected.  Of  the  '  two-hole 
stones,'  those  of  rectangular  outline  are  most  abundant ;  not  that  all 
these  are  rectangular,  but  with  some  modification  of  this  form,  as 
with  corners  cut  off  making  an  octagonal  figure,  or  rounded  more  or 
less." 

One  variety  of  these  gorgets,  frequently  met  with  in  the  west  and 
south,  is  shaped  like  a  boat,  which,  while  very  rarely  found  in  New 
Jersey,  is  occasionally  gathered  with  other  relics  from  certain  village 
sites  and  burial  places  of  the  Indians  in  New  England.  From  ancient 
graves  near  Swanton,  Vermont,  a  number  of  these  boat-shaped  gorgets 
have  been  obtained,  associated,  however,  with  others  of  plainer  pat 
terns,  but  of  equally  workmanlike  finish.  All  are  made  of  ornamental 
stone,  and  perforated. 

Fig.  362  represents  an  example  of  this  form  of  gorget  found  at 
Bradford,  New  Hampshire.  This  specimen,  which  is  four  inches  in 

149  Perkins,  /.  c.,  p.  742. 


GORGETS,   TOTEMS,    PENDANTS   AND   TRINKETS. 


383 


length  and  but  little  more  than  one  in  width,  is  not  so  large,  nor  so 
deep  as  those  found  in  Vermont,  but  may  be  taken  as  a  connecting 
link  between  the  flat  or  plain  gorgets  and  those  that  are  even  more 
distinctly  boat-shaped. 

Some  of  the  latter  are  not  oval  upon  the  convex  side,  but  angular, 
giving  them  a  triangular  outline.  An  example 
of  this  kind,  figured  by  Foster,150  was  found 
near  Danville,  Illinois ;  and  others  are  in  the 
Museum  at  Cambridge,  from  Tennessee.  The 
perforations,  in  all  of  this  triangular  pattern, 
are  near  the  ends,  and  are  drilled  in  an  oblique 
direction.  In  others,  that  are  not  so  deeply 
excavated,  the  perforations  are  variously  placed. 
A  class  of  objects,  closely  allied  to  the  pre 
ceding,  but  from  their  more  elaborate  char 
acter,  supposed  to  have  been  invested  with 
greater  significance,  are  those  perforated  stones, 
which  are  either  shaped  to  represent  animals, 

or  have  representations  of  animals  carved  upon 

them.     These  carved  and  ornamented  stones 

are  here  classed  as  "  totems."     Schoolcraft 151 

has  explained  their  origin  and  object,  as  being 

connected  with  "the  system  of  names  imposed 

on  the  men  composing  the  Algonquin,  Iroquois, 

Cherokee    and   other   nations."     With   these, 

"a  fox,  a  bear,  a  turtle,  etc.,  is  fixed  upon  as 

a  badge  or  stem,  from  which  the  descendants 

may  trace  their  parentage.     To   do  this,   the 

figure  of  an  animal  is  employed  as  a  heraldic 

si°n  or  surname.     This  sign  is  called,  in  the  Algonquin,  town-mark  or 

totem." 

In  this  connection  it  may  be  well  also  to  refer  briefly  to  the  tradi- 


FIG.  362.  —  New^Hamp- 


i™  Foster.     Prehistoric  Races  of  the  U.  S.,  p.  222,  fig.  28.     Chicago,  1873. 
151  History  of  Indian  Tribes,  vol.  i,  p.  52. 


3  84  PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 

tional  history  of  the  Delaware  Indians,  as  recorded  by  Heckewelder.152 
He  mentions  that,  in  accordance  with  their  tradition,  after  they  dis 
covered  the  Delaware  river,  they  explored  "the  Scheyichbi  country, 
now  named  New  Jersey."  These  migrating  Indians  finally  settled  on 
four  rivers,  "making  the  Delaware,  to  which  they  gave  the  name  of 
Lenape  Wihittuck,  the  centre  of  their  possessions."  They  here  di 
vided  themselves  into  three  tribes,  two  of  them  distinguished  by  the 
names  of  the  turtle  and  the  turkey ;  the  latter  settling  nearest  the  sea. 


FIG.  363.  — New  Jersey.    \, 

The  third  tribe,  the  Minsi  or  wolves,  settled  in  the  mountainous  region 
north  and  westward  of  Musconetcong  creek. 

Fig.  363  represents  a  highly  polished,  black  hornstone  pebble,  oval 
in  shape,  flat  upon  the  under  side,  and  slightly  convex  upon  the  other, 
perforated  at  each  end  ;  and  upon  the  upper  side,  as  seen  in  the  illus 
tration,  there  is  clearly  and  quite  artistically  engraved  a  turtle.  This 
most  interesting  object  was  found  near  Titusville,  Mercer  Co.,  New 
Jersey,  in  the  very  neighborhood  where  the  turtle  tribe  of  the  Dela 
ware  nation  were  settled.  The  inference  is  that  this  stone  is  not 
simply  an  ornament,  as  a  bead,  a  bear's  tooth  or  a  perforated  pebble, 


152  Heckewelder.      Hist.  Account  of  Indians:  Vol.  ist,  Transactions  Amer.  Phil.  Soc.,  p.  33. 
Philadelphia. 


GORGETS,    TOTEMS,    PENDANTS   AND   TRINKETS.  385 

but  has  that  tribal  or  totemic  significance  which  is  mentioned  by 
Schoolcraft  as  common  to  the  Algonquin  Indians. 

This  is  not  the  only  specimen  of  its  kind  that  has  been  discovered 
in  the  valley  of  the  Delaware.  The  turtle  on  the  pipe  (fig.  317),  from 
Lewes,  Delaware,  may  have  had  a  totemic  significance  ;  and  the  heads 
of  birds  etched  upon  a  stone-knife  (fig.  43)  and  a  bone  implement 
(fig.  192),  clearly  show  that  animal  representations  were  not  uncom 
mon,  although  probably  none  were  of  totemic  significance,  except 
fig.  363  and  possibly  the  turtle  pipe. 

Objects  made  by  carving  the  stone  to  represent  an  animal  have 
frequently  been  met  with  in  New  England.  Fig.  364  represents  an 
interesting  example  found  near  Ipswich,  Mass.,  and  described  by 
Mr.  F.  W.  Putnam,  as  follows  : — 

"This  stone  was  evidently  carved  with  care  for  the  purpose  of  being 
worn  as  an  ornament,  and  was  probably  suspended  from  the  neck.  It 
is  of  a  soft  slate,  easily  cut  with  a  sharp,  hard  stone.  The  markings 
left  in  various  places  by  the  carver,  showing  where  his  tool  had  slipped, 
indicate  that  no  very  delicate  instrument  had  been  used,  while  the 
several  grooves,  made  to  carry  out  the  idea  of  the  sculptor,  indicate 
as  plainly  that  the  instrument  by  which  they  were  made,  had,  what  we 
should  call,  a  rounded  edge,  like  that  of  a  dull  hatchet,  as  the  grooves 
were  wider  at  the  top  than  at  the  bottom,  and  the  striae  show  that  they 
were  made  by  a  sort  of  sawing  motion,  or  a  rubbing  of  the  instrument 
backwards  and  forwards.  In  fact,  the  carver's  tool  might  have  been 
almost  any  stone  implement,  from  an  arrowhead  to  a  skin  scraper,  or 
any  hard  piece  of  roughly  chipped  stone. 

Fig.  364  represents  the  stone  of  natural  size,  its  total  length  being 
two  and  a  half  inches.  It  is  of  general  uniform  thickness,  about  one- 
fifth  of  an  inch,  except  where  the  angles  are  slightly  rounded  off  on 
the  front  of  the  head  and  on  the  abdominal  outline,  and  the  portion 
representing  the  forked  tail,  or  caudal  fin,  which  is  rapidly  and  sym 
metrically  thinned  to  its  edges,  as  is  the  notched  portion  representing 
the  dorsal  fin. 

The  caning  was  evidently  intended  to  represent  a  fish,  with  some 
25 


386 


PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 


peculiar  ideas  of  the  artist  added  and  several  important  characters  left 
out.  The  three  longitudinal  grooves  in  front  represent  the  mouth  and 
jaws,  while  the  transverse  groove  at  their  termination  gives  a  limit  to 
the  length  of  the  jaw,  and  a  very  decided  groove  on  the  under  side 
divides  the  under  jaw  into  its  right  and  left  portions.  The  eyes  are 
represented  as  slight  depressions  at  the  top  of  the  head.  The  head 
is  separated  from  the  abdominal  portion  by  a  decided  groove,  and  the 
caudal  fin  is  well  represented  by  the  forked  portion,  from  the  centre  of 
which  the  rounded  termination  of  the  whole  projects.  In  this  part 
there  is  an  irregularly  made  hole  of  a  size  large  enough  to  allow  a 
strong  cord  to  pass  through  for  the  purpose  of  suspension.  The  por 
tion  of  the  sculpture  rising  in  the  place  of  a  dorsal  fin  is  in  several 


FIG.  364.  —  Massachusetts,    -p 

ways  a  singular  conception  of  the  ancient  carver.  While  holding  the 
position  of  a  dorsal  fin,  it  points  the  wrong  way,  if  we  regard  the  por 
tion,  looking  so  much  like  a  shark's  tooth,  as  intended  to  represent  the 
fin  as  a  whole.  It  is  very  likely  that  the  designer  wished  to  show  that 
the  fin  was  not  connected  with  the  head  and,  as  he  was  confined  by 
the  length  of  the  piece  of  stone,  after  making  the  head  so  much  out 
of  proportion,  he  was  forced  to  cut  under  the  interior  portion  of  the 
fin  in  order  to  express  the  fact.  If  we  regard  it  in  this  light,  the  notches 
on  the  upper  edge  may  be  considered  as  indicating  the  fin  rays ;  but 
the  figure  best  shows  the  character  of  the  sculpture,  and  persons  inter 
ested  can  draw  their  own  conclusions. 

"  The  symmetry  of  the  whole  carving  is  well  carried  out,  both  sides 
being  alike,  with  the  exception  that  the  raised  portion  at  the  posterior 


GORGETS,    TOTEMS,    PENDANTS    AND    TRINKETS.  387 

part  of  what  I  have  called  the  dorsal  fin  is  a  little  more  marked 
on  the  left  side  than  on  the  right,  and  the  edge  on  the  same  side 
is  surrounded  by  a  faint,  irregularly  drawn  line. 

"The  carving  was,  I  think,  unquestionably  made  by  an  Indian  of  the 
tribe  once  numerous  in  this  vicinity ;  and,  as  it  was  almost  beyond  a 
doubt  cut  by  a  stone  tool  of  some  kind,  it  must  be  considered  as  quite 
an  ancient  work  of  art,  probably  worn  as  a  '  medicine '  and  possibly 
indicated  either  the  name  of  the  wearer  or  that  he  was  a  noted  fisher 
man." 

Fig.  365  represents  a  carved  stone,  found  at  Seabrook,  New  Hamp 
shire,  which  is  supposed  to  "  rudely  represent  a  porpoise  or,  still  better, 
a  white  whale  or  Beluga,  as  it  had  no  protuberance  representing  the 
dorsal  fin  of  the  porpoise,  and  the  Beluga  is  without  the  fin.  The  flip 
pers  or  pectoral  fins  were  represented  by  the  protuberances  on  the 
sides,  and  the  mouth  was  cut  in  and  well  indicated.  The  broad  hori 
zontal  tail  was  decidedly  cetacean  in  character,  and  the  whole  carving, 
though  rudely  done  by  picking  the  sienitic  rock,  from  which  it  was 
made,  with  stone  implements,  was  yet  so  characteristic  as  to  indicate 
at  once  that  a  porpoise  or  Beluga  was  intended.  A  hole  through  the 
portion  representing  the  tail  shows  that  the  object  was  suspended,  but 
the  stone  is  so  large  and  heavy  that  it  can  hardly  be  classed  as  a  per 
sonal  ornament,  though  it  is  probably  to  be  regarded  as  a  totem.  It 
measures  ten  inches  in  length  by  about  two  in  depth  at  the  pectoral 
fins,  and  is  about  two  and  a  quarter  inches  wide  across  the  pectorals 
as  measured  on  the  under  side.  This  interesting  specimen  was  found 
at  Seabrook,  N.  H.,  and  it  is  said  that  two  other  similarly  worked 
stones  have  been  found  at  the  same  place. 

"The  figures  here  given  represent  the  'object'  in  profile  and  from 
the  under  side." 

Fig.  366  represents  a  typical  specimen  of  a  well-known  class  of 
perforated  stones,  generally  called  pendants,  or  gorgets.  Whether 
any  distinction  really  exists  cannot  now  be  determined ;  but  the  fact 

153  Putnam.     Bulletin  Essex  Inst.,  vol.  v.     Salem,  Mass. 


388  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

that  some  of  these  stones  have  one  perforation,  whilst  others  have 
two   or   more,    indicates    a   difference    in   the   method    of  attaching 


• :  If  §1 


imps 


FIG.  365.  —  New  Hampshire.     £. 


them  to  the  clothing.  This  difference  may  also  be  an  indication 
that  the  two  forms  had  different  uses,  the  so-called  gorget  having  been 
applied  to  some  special  purpose  while  the  pendant  proper  was  simply 


GORGET'S,  TOTEMS,  PENDANTS  AND  TRINKETS.          389 

an  ornament.  Fig.  366  is  made  of  serpentine,  and  is  highly  polished. 
In  outline  and  finish,  it  is  the  counterpart  of  scores  of  similar  articles 
gathered  from  every  part  of  the  Atlantic  coast.  Many,  however,  are 
much  larger.  In  the  Museum  at  Cambridge,  Mass.,  are  two  examples 
of  these  large  pendants,  one  of  which  (P.  M.  No.  602)  measures 
nearly  seven  inches  in  length,  by  two  and  three-eighths  inches  in 
greatest  width,  with  the  perforation  very  near  one  end.  The  other 

is  shorter  and  broader  and  has  the  per 
foration  an  inch  from  the  end. 


FIG.  366.  — New  Jersey.     \.  FIG.  367.  —  New  Jersey.    \- 

Among  the  contents  of  a  series  of  ancient  Indian  graves,  examined 
by  Mr.  Putnam,154  were  three  of  these  pendants  of  large  size.  One  is 
without  a  perforation,  and  another  has  a  series  of  well  denned  notches 
on  one  end. 

Fig.  367    represents  a  second    example  of  a  stone  pendant,  and 

154  Putnam.     Bulletin  Essex  Inst.,  vol.  iii,  p.  123. 


39° 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 


differs  from  the  preceding  in  having  a  rude  attempt  at  ornamentation. 
The  pebble,  from  which  this  specimen  is  made,  remains  otherwise 
unaltered.  The  fracture  on  one  side  was  probably  caused  by  the 
plough.  The  lines  are  only  upon  one  side,  and  are  so  far  apart  and  so 
few  in  number,  that  they  cannot  now  be  considered  as  adding  to  its 
beauty.  Indeed,  so  rude  in  many  respects  is  this  example,  that  it 
may  have  been  intended  for  some  other  purpose, — possibly  as  a 
sinker  for  a  fishing-line,  to  which  use  it  had  been  applied  before 
coming  into  the  eager  possession  of  a  relic-hunter. 

Several  pendants  of  the  character 
and  size  of  figs.  366  and  367,  made 
of  hematite  and  similarly  perfor 
ated,  have  been  found  in  Hunter- 
don  Co.,  N.  J.  These  presented 
no  peculiarity  whatever,  other  than 
in  the  character  of  the  material, 
which  was  very  seldom  used  by  the 
New  Jersey  Indians,  although  it 
exists  in  the  greatest  abundance  in 
the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  place 
where  these  specimens  were  found. 
Ornaments  and  small  celts  of  hema 
tite  seem  to  be  principally  found  in 
Ohio,  judging  from  the  large 
proportion  of  objects  from  that 
state,  made  of  this  material,  that  are  contained  in  our  principal 
museums. 

Fig.  368  represents  an  interesting  specimen  of  the  usual  form,  but 
made  of  a  pebble  and  thicker  than  the  usual  pendants  of  slate.  The 
remarkable  feature  of  this  example  is  the  extremely  rude  represen 
tation  of  a  human  face  cut  upon  one  side.  The  stone  is  an  accurate 
oval  in  outline,  and  near  the  smaller  end  a  hole,  for  suspension,  has 
been  drilled.  Unlike  all  other  representations  of  the  human  face, 
this  one  is  produced  by  a  curious  combination  of  straight  lines.  The 


FIG.  368.  —  New  Jersey.    \. 


GORGETS,    TOTEMS,    PENDANTS   AND   TRINKETS.  39! 

eyes  are  shallow  countersunk  holes,  enclosed  in  diamond-shaped 
figures,  the  nose  is  represented  by  straight  lines,  the  surface  of  the 
stone  on  each  side  having  been  slightly  ground  down,  so  as  to  bring 
that  feature  more  prominently  into  relief. 

This  specimen  was  taken  from  an  Indian  grave  near  Vincentown, 
Burlington  Co.,  N.  J.,  and,  associated  with  it,  were  found  two  celts, 
a  dozen  arrowpoints,  and  a  few  glass  beads.  The  presence  of  the 
last-mentioned  articles  shows  that  the  burial  was  after  the  general 
introduction  of  articles  of  European  manu 
facture  among  the  native  tribes ;  though  it 
does  not  necessarily  imply  that  the  relic  it 
self  was  of  modern  date.  It  is  well  known 
that  many  objects,  the  handiwork  of  their 
own  ancestors,  generations  before,  were  held 
in  veneration  and  preserved  as  relics  by  the 
recent  Indians. 

Fig.  369  represents  a  second  example  of 
a  pendant,  in  this  instance  of  much  smaller 
size,  with  a  still  ruder  representation  of  the 
human  face.  In  this  specimen,  the  features 
are  delineated  by  a  few  lines,  within  an  oval 
that  marks  the  boundaries  of  the  face.  This 
face  carving  bears  considerable  resemblance 
to  one  found  in  Ohio,  and  figured  in  the 
Popular  Science  Monthly.155  The  work 
manship  in  that  case,  however,  is  really  artistic,  and  the  stone  on 
which  it  is  carved  is  carefully  and  symmetrically  shaped  and  polished. 
In  fig.  369  we  have  simply  a  flat,  elongated  oval  pebble,  without  any 
alteration  of  the  surfaces  other  than  the  perforation  and  the  rudely 
incised  face. 

In  this,  and  the  preceding  specimens,  we  have  examples  of  carving 
upon  a  very  hard,  unyielding  hornstone,  which  may  account  for  the 

165  Abbott.     Popular  Science  Monthly,  vol.  vii,  1876.      New  York. 


39 2  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

rude  finish ;   as  steatite  objects,  of  a  similar  character,  are  much  more 
artistically  executed. 

Pendants  of  this  pattern  are  very  rare,  and  none,  as  yet,  have  been 
found  in  New  England.  In  the  southern  states  their  place  seems  to 
have  been  supplied  in  part  by  the  shell-disks  or  totems,  upon  which 
are  inscribed  birds'  heads,  spiders,  rattlesnakes,  and  in  some  instances, 
the  human  face.  Examples  of  the  latter,  quite  as  rudely  executed  as 
the  one  figured  above,  have  been  taken  from  mounds  in  Virginia,150 
Tennessee  and  Arkansas. 

Fig.  370  represents  a  small  human  face,  carved  in  steatite,  found 
many  years  ago,  on  the  shores  of  Cayuga  Lake,  New  York.  This 
specimen  is  very  interesting,  as  it  is  the  only  one  of  the  series  of 
illustrations  given,  wherein  the  Indian  face  is  truth 
fully  expressed  or  portrayed.  While  this  specimen 
can  scarcely,  from  its  small  size,  be  called  a  pen 
dant,  yet  it  is  most  appropriately  considered  here, 
in  connection  with  the  attempts  at  portraiture 
shown  in  the  preceding  examples.  A  specimen  of 
a  stone  face,  of  somewhat  smaller  size,  but  of  the 
FIG.  370.— New  same  character  of  workmanship,  and  peculiar  In 
dian  cast  of  countenance,  was  lately  found  in  a 
shell-heap,  opposite  Red  Bank,  Monmouth  Co.,  New  Jersey.  The 
material  is  steatite  of  a  dark  greenish  color.  Associated  with  it,  were 
fragments  of  pottery,  and  half  of  a  "ceremonial  object,"  which  was 
profusely  marked  with  the  short,  deep  notches,  so  common  to  gor 
gets.  This  account  is  taken  from  a  letter  addressed  to  the  Museum 
of  Archaeology,  at  Cambridge,  Mass.,  by  Chas.  F.  Woolley,  Esq. 
(the  gentleman  who  found  the  specimen) ,  of  Eatontown,  Monmouth 
Co.,  New  Jersey. 

Representations  of  the  human  face  upon  stones  are  of  common 
occurrence,  not  only  among  the  relics  of  the  modern  Indians,  but  also 
of  the  western  moundbuilders.  In  many  cases,  these  carvings  were 


16GCarr.     Tenth  Annual  Report  of  Peabody  Museum,  p.  87,  fig.  3.     Cambridge,  1877. 


GORGETS,  TOTEMS,  PENDANTS  AND  TRINKETS.          393 

merely  ornaments,  though  some  of  them  appear  to  have  been  held 
in  great  reverence.  In  this  connection,  the  following  statement,  tran 
scribed  from  a  Kansas  paper,  is  of  interest. 

"About  the  loth  of  July  (1868),  the  Kiowas  had  a  battle  with  the 
Utes,  in  which  the  chief,  Heap-of-Bears,  and  seven  other  Kiowa  braves 
were  killed.  Heap-of-Bears  had  on  his  person  the  medicine  of  the 
Kiowas,  which  was  captured  by  the  Utes,  who  still  retain  it.  This 
medicine  consists  of  an  image  about  eighteen  inches  in  length, 
carved  to  represent  a  human  face  and  covered  with  the  down  and 
feathers  of  the  eagle  and  other  birds,  and  swathed  in  wrappers 
of  different  materials  of  value.  Although  I  have  been  conversant 
with  Indian  habits  and  customs  for  a  long  time,  I  was  surprised  to 
find  the  value  these  people  attach  to  this  medicine.  They  begged 
and  implored  Col.  Murphy  to  recover  it  for  them,  and  promised  to 
pay  the  Utes  as  many  horses  as  they  wanted,  and  also  to  make  a  per 
manent  and  lasting  peace  not  only  with  the  Utes,  but  also  to  refrain 
from  further  depredations  on  the  Texas  border,  if  this  should  be  re 
stored.  Col.  Murphy  promised  to  endeavor  to  recover  it,  but  I  think 
his  success  in  the  matter  will  be  doubtful,  as  the  Utes  also  attach 
great  importance  to  their  capture,  believing  that  while  they  retain  it, 
the  Kiowas  will  be  powerless  to  do  them  harm." 

The  human  face  was  not  only  represented  in  the  several  ways  that 
have  been  described ;  but  the  Atlantic  coast  Indians  appear  to  have 
occasionally  attempted  works  of  a  more  pretentious  character,  although 
their  success  in  human  portraiture  cannot  be  commended. 

Fig.  371  represents  a  stone  mask  found  at  Trenton,  N.  J.157  Stone 
masks  like  this  have  been  somewhat  frequently  found  in  the  mound 
region  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  valleys,  but  are  not  common  east 
ward  of  these  localities.  The  specimen  here  figured  is  probably  the 
only  one  yet  discovered  in  New  Jersey,  and  thus  far  but  few,  if  any 
specimens,  have  been  found  in  New  England.  Fig.  371  is  a  hard 
sandstone  pebble,  and  measures  six  inches  in  length  by  a  fraction 

157  Abbott.     Nature,  vol.  xii,  p.  49,  figure  not  numbered.     London,  1875. 


394 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


over  four  inches  in  greatest  breadth.  It  is  concavo-convex,  the  con 
cavity  being  shallow  and  artificial.  The  carving  of  the  front  or  convex 
side  is  very  rude,  and  certainly  shows  no  evidence  of  the  work  of 
metallic  tools.  The  eyes  are  simply  conical,  countersunk  holes ;  just 
such  depressions  as  the  larger  stone  drills,  so  common  among  the 
surface  relics  of  this  neighborhood,  would  produce.  The  eyebrows  or 
superciliary  ridges  are  well  defined,  but  are  angular  rather  than  curved, 

and  in  this  respect  the 
specimen  resembles  fig. 
368.  The  nose  is  very 
flat  and  angular;  the 
mouth  merely  a  shallow 
groove.  The  ears  are 
broken,  but  appear  to 
have  been  formed  with 
more  care  than  any 
other  of  the  features. 
The  chin  is  slightly  pro 
jecting.  Until  other 
specimens  of  like  char 
acter  shall  have  been 
found  along  the  Atlantic 
seaboard,  it  is  scarcely 
safe  to  conjecture  even 
as  to  the  significance  of 
this  specimen.  Its  re 
semblance  to  those  found  in  the  region  occupied  by  the  mound- 
builders,  and  also  to  the  Mexican  masks,  will  at  once  be  remarked ; 
but,  that  it  has  any  bearing  on  the  relationship  of  the  Red  Indian 
to  the  moundbuilclers,  or  the  latter  to  ancient  Mexicans,  is  very 
doubtful. 

In  the  Fast  collection  of  Alaskan  antiquities,  in  the  museum  at 
Cambridge,  Mass.,  there  are  two  specimens  of  carved  stone  orna 
ments,  one  of  which  bears  a  marked  resemblance  to  fig.  368,  although 


FIG.  371.  —  New  Jersey. 


GORGETS,  TOTEMS,  PENDANTS  AND  TRINKETS.          395 

finished  much  more  artistically.  The  other,  while  of  a  different  char 
acter,  being  a  flat  ring  with  eight  human  faces  carved  upon  it,  is  also  of 
interest,  as  the  faces  are  quite  similar  to  those  upon  the  New  Jersey 
specimens. 

The  Alaskan  example,  with  a  single  face  carved  upon  it,  is  a  flat, 
oval  pebble,  two  and  one-half  inches  in  width  and  three  inches  long. 
This  ornament  or  charm  has  a  hole  through  it,  at  the  upper  end,  simi 
lar  to  the  perforations  in  figs.  368  and  369.  The  surface  upon  which 
the  face  is  cut  is  convex,  but  with  a  wide  flattened  margin  ornamented 
with  closely  set  parallel  lines.  The  back  of  the  stone  is  flat  and  with 
out  markings  of  any  kind. 

The  similarity  of  these  Alaskan  specimens  of  stone  carvings  to  those 
of  the  eastern  coast  Indians  is  not  the  only  instance  of  this  kind,  of 
which  there  is  evidence.  Already,  reference  has  been  made  to  the 
identity  of  the  semilunar  slate  knives  of  Alaska  and  those  found  so 
abundantly  in  the  New  England  and  middle  states. 

The  sameness  of  the  productions  of  distant  and  distinct  people 
must  be  very  cautiously  taken  as  an  indication  of  their  former  contact, 
or  remote  relationship,  especially  when  there  have  always  existed  geo 
graphical  barriers  which  were  practically  impassable.  In  the  present 
instance,  however,  it  is  not  strange  that  a  marked  similarity  should  be 
traced  between  the  implements  and  ornaments  of  the  Indians  and  the 
handiwork  of  the  Arctic  races.  These  two  people  have  certainly  been 
frequently  in  contact,  and  the  belief  that  the  Indian  displaced  the 
Eskimo  over  a  considerable  territory,  far  south  of  the  present  range  of 
the  latter,  is  founded  on  much  strong  evidence. 

Fig.  372  represents  a  most  interesting  carving  in  stone  that  differs 
materially  from  all  the  others  mentioned  in  this  chapter.  The  others, 
with  perhaps  one  exception,  are  representations  of  familiar  objects, 
or  are  merely  smoothed  pebbles  with  decorative  lines ;  but  in  this 
instance,  by  the  use  of  effective  lines,  there  is  apparently  a  departure 
from  the  representation  of  natural  forms  towards  conventionalism. 

If  this  be  the  correct  understanding  of  this  carving,  it  is  probable 
that  it  may  be  regarded  as  a  conventionalized  human  face ;  and  as 


396 


PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 


FIG.  372.  —  New  Jersey. 


such  is  of  much  interest  from  the  rarity  of  such  work  in  the  relics  o. 
the  tribes  of  the  eastern  seaboard. 

The  material  is  steatite,  now  black  from  age  and  exposure.     The 
upper  surface  and  back  of  this  object  are  perfectly  plain  and  pol 
ished.     The  deep  upper  groove  on  the  front  surface  is  suggestive 
of  a  means  whereby  the  stone  could  have  been  suspended  or  at 
tached,   but  it  is  as  likely  that  such  objects 
were  carried  in  pouches  as  attached  to  their 
persons.     As  will   be    seen   by  reference   to 
the   illustration,  the  upper  portion    is    quite 
suggestive  of  the  eyes  and  nose  of  a  human 
face;    but  the  lower  portion  can  only  be 
construed  as  representing  cheeks,  a  mouth 
and  chin,  by  closely  regarding  these  lines  in 
connection  with  those  of  the   upper  part  of 
the  carving. 

For  this  interesting  specimen,  the  author  is  indebted  to  the  kindness 
of  Master  Herbert  Coleman,  of  Recklesstown,  Burlington  Co.,  New 
Jersey,  who  found  it  on  the  bank  of  a  small  creek  near  that  village. 

Fig-  373  represents  a  very  interesting  example  of  a  carving  in 
stone,  representing  the  head  of  a  fox.  In  no  one  particular  is  the 
carving  correct,  yet  the  general  resemblance  is  unmistakable,  and  no 
doubt  can  exist,  but  that  the  ancient  sculptor 
intended  to  portray  a  fox's  head.  The  small, 
knob-like  protuberance  at  the  neck,  in  con 
nection  with  the  deep  groove  that  separates  it 
from  the  head,  shows  that  this  little  carving  was 
suspended ;  and,  either  as  a  single  ornament 
attached  to  the  dress,  or  as  the  pendant  and  prominent  feature  of  a 
string  of  beads,  was  used  for  personal  adornment. 

Animal  carvings,  like  fig.  373,  have  been  very  rarely  met  with  in 
the  valley  of  the  Delaware  river,  or  anywhere  in  New  England.  In 
central  New  York,  and  along  the  valley  of  the  Susquehanna,  they 
are  more  frequently  found. 


FIG.  373. —  Penna.    •{. 


GORGETS,    TOTEMS,    PENDANTS    AND    TRINKETS.  397 

This  specimen  of  a  carving  in  stone  was  found  near  Columbia, 
Lancaster  Co.,  Pa.,  by  G.  W.  Caley,  Esq.,  and  by  him  presented 
to  the  late  Prof.  S.  S.  Haldeman,  from  whom  the  author  received  it 
for  purposes  of  description  and  figuring  in  this  work. 

A  second  example  of  these  charms,  pendants  or  trinkets,  as  the  case 
may  be,  fig.  374,  which  was  also  received  from  my  lamented  friend,  is 
a  carved  arrowpoint  of  steatite,  which  is  quite  elaborately  ornamented. 
On  one  side  of  the  specimen  there  is  drawn,  by  incised  lines,  a  spirited 
representation  of  our  well-known  " snapper"  (Chefydra  serpentina), 
and  on  the  other  side,  there  are  closely  arranged  series  of  parallel, 
straight  and  oblique  lines,  which  give  a  net-like  appearance  to  this  side. 
This  is  the  only  instance  known  to  the  author  of  well-known  forms  of 
weapons  being  reproduced,  in  miniature,  as  orna 
ments.  The  representation  of  the  turtle,  however, 
is  of  common  occurrence. 

In  chapter  V,  attention  has  been  called  to  the 
occurrence  of  birds'  heads  engraved  upon  a  slate 
knife,  and  to  the  probability  that  they  were  in 
tended  to  represent  the  heads  of  turkeys.  In  this 
instance  we  have  the  other  "totemic"  animal 

FIG.  374.  —  Penna.    \. 

represented,  of  the  three  which  were  chosen  by 
the  Lenni  Lenape  as  the  clan-marks  of  their  nation  :  the  wolf,  the 
turkey  and  the  turtle.  Interesting  as  the  specimen  is,  irrespective 
of  the  totemic  significance  of  the  animal  engraved  upon  it,  this  his 
torical  knowledge  of  the  political  divisions  of  the  Delaware  Indians 
certainly  adds  to  that  interest  very  materially.  Unlike  many  of  the 
objects  described  in  the  present  chapter,  this  specimen  may  not  be 
simply  an  ornament ;  but  what  significance  it  had  can  now  only  be 
conjectured. 

This  unique  specimen,  fig.  374,  was  found  by  Mr.  G.  W.  Caley,  at 
Washington  Boro',  Lancaster  Co.,  Pa.,  and  presented  to  the  late  Prof. 
S.  S.  Haldeman. 

Under  the  name  "trinket"  is  included  a  miscellaneous  series  of 
small  objects,  which  from  their  size,  general  appearance  and  material 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 

of  which  many  are  made,  are  believed  to  have  been  simply  small  orna 
ments  worn  either  singly,  or  in  numbers,  as  a  string  of  beads ;  or  car 
ried  about  the  person,  as  "charms."  Almost  all  such  objects  are  either 
perforated  or  grooved,  and  so  were  evidently  attached  to  the  dress  or 
person  by  a  cord.  Many  of  these  small  ornaments  were  probably  also 
attached  to  scalps ;  and,  thus  bedecked  with  small  perforated  stones, 
human  finger  bones  and  shells,  these  scalps  were  borne  aloft  in  many 
of  the  well-known  Indian  dances.  No  object  seems  to  have  been  too 
crude  for  the  fancy  of  an  Indian,  and  it  is  not  strange  that  so  many 
fragments  of  commonplace  objects  even  are  found,  which  show  that 
they  had  been  used  in  some  such  manner  as  described.  These  objects 
represent,  in  great  part,  the  jewelry  of  the  present 
day,  and  while  not  possessing  the  same  intrinsic 
value,  or  any  of  the  beauty  of  modern  bijouterie, 
they  certainly  are  no  less  meaningless. 

No  classification  of  such  objects  can,  of  course, 
be  made,  and  but  little  can  be  said  with  reference 
to  the  geographical  distribution  of  the  various  forms. 
In  some  localities,  perforated  teeth  and  shell  orna 
ments  are  more  frequently  found  than  in  others, 
where  stone  trinkets  are  abundant ;  but  in  no  locality 
FIG.  375.  —  New  does  there  appear  to  be  any  common  form  of  trin 
ket  strictly  peculiar  to  that  neighborhood. 

Fig.  375  represents  a  small,  but  symmetrical  trinket,  which  has  a 
marked  peculiarity  in  the  ornamentation  upon  one  side.  The  speci 
men  itself  is  short,  being  but  one  inch  and  three-quarters  in  length. 
The  upper  or  perforated  end  is  but  three-eighths  of  an  inch  in  width, 
and  from  this  upper  margin  the  specimen  increases  uniformly  in  width 
until  near  the  bottom,  when  it  rounds  off  in  an  almost  regular  curve. 
The  hole  appears  to  have  been  drilled  wholly  from  the  plain,  or  under 
side,  being  wider  there  at  the  surface  than  upon  the  opposite  side, 
which  has  a  slightly  worn  edge  occasioned  by  the  rubbing  of  the  cord 
that  suspended  it. 

The  ornamentation  of  fig.  375  differs  from  any  other  specimen  col- 


GORGETS,    TOTEMS,    PENDANTS   AND    TRINKETS. 


399 


FIG.  376.  —  Massa 
chusetts,     j. 


lected  by  the  author.  The  surface  of  the  stone  has  been  smoothly 
worn  off,  leaving,  a  short  distance  below  the  perforation,  a  quadran 
gular  figure  that  may  be  called  a  hollow  square,  there, 
being  a  cleanly  cut  depression  in  the  centre  of  the 
projecting  "square,"  the  width  of  which  is  just 
double  the  depth.  Below  this  figure  commences  a 
second,  which  can  be  compared  to  an  inverted  pick 
axe,  with  the  iron  arms  straight er  than  usual.  It  is 
simply  a  "raised"  ridge,  the  surrounding  surface 
being  cut  away  to  leave  it  in  bold  relief.  It  is  not 
exactly  in  the  centre  of  the  specimen,  but  near  it, 
the  upper  ridge  or  handle  of  the  pick  being  slightly 
inclined  to  one  side.  Below  this,  the  specimen  is 
smoothly  polished  and  somewhat  sloped  to  the  end. 

Fig.  376  represents  an  ornament  made  of  a  metacarpal  bone  of  a 
deer.  One  end  is  very  much  worked  by  being  ground  down  and 
perforated,  but  the  sides  of  the  bone  and  the  lower  end  (/.  <?.,  lower 
end  as  seen  in  the  illustration)  are  not  altered 
in  any  way.  Small  bone  trinkets  or  ornaments 
of  this  character  are  not  uncommon,  wherever 
the  soil  has  been  of  such  a  character  as  to  pre 
vent  the  decomposition  of  the  bone.  The 
marked  absence  of  bone  implements  generally, 
iii  some  districts,  is  doubtless  due  to  this  cause. 
Fig.  376  was  found  in  an  Indian  grave  in 
Lagrange  street,  Salem,  Mass,  With  it  were 
several  bone  spoons,  made  from  the  jaw  of  a 
porpoise. 

Fig.  377  represents  an  interesting  specimen 
of  this  class  of  relics.  It  is  a  piece  of  black, 
well-worn  stone,  but  with  no  polish ;  it  is  thin, 
but  irregularly  so,  and  has  a  greasy  feeling  which 
is  most  deceptive.  One  can  almost  smell  the  grease,  now  stale,  with 
which  the  object  seems  to  be  saturated.  The  specimen  is  leaf-shaped, 


FIG.   377. — New  Jer 
sey.    {. 


400  PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 

more  pointed  at  one  end  than  the  other,  and,  when  viewed  hori 
zontally,  bears  some  resemblance  to  a  fish. 

So  generally  are  these  stone  trinkets,  such  as  fig.  377,  found  singly 
both  upon  the  surface  and  in  graves,  that  it  seems  probable  that  they 
were  worn  singly,  to  a  great  extent,  as  has  been  suggested,  and  not 
as  one  of  many  similar  objects,  as  a  string  of  beads,  unless  the  beads 
have  decomposed.  Their  occurrence  in  New  Jersey,  in  ancient 
graves,  is  very  unusual ;  and  they  are  not  mentioned  as  among  the 
contents  of  ancient  graves  found  in  New  England.  These  perforated 
stones  certainly  can  be  nothing  else  than  ornaments,  and  as  they  are 
so  abundant  on  many  of  our  fields,  it  seems  the  more  surprising  that 
none  should  be  found  with  skeletons,  especially  as  glass  beads  and  or 
naments  of  European  origin  so  generally  occur  in  the  more  recent 
burials.  It  is  possible,  however,  that  all  such  ornaments  and  trinkets 
of  every  description  are  really  from  graves  which  have  been  obliterated 
by  the  destruction  of  the  forest  once  covering  these  fields,  and  their 
long  subsequent  cultivation.  If  the  Indians  placed  their  dead  in  very 
shallow  graves,  it  is  possible  that  all  the  relics  of  this  people,  now 
found  upon  the  surface  in  some  localities,  are  really  grave  contents ; 
but  it  is  not  certain  that  they  practised  this  method  of  disposing  of 
the  bodies  of  their  dead.  They  certainly  had  ot"her  mortuary  customs 
also,  as  burying  in  tumuli,  and  in  placing  the  body  in  a  sitting  posture 
in  holes  dug  sufficiently  deep  to  be  beyond  the  reach  of  the  plough 
share.  The  general  levelling  of  our  fields,  however,  through  the  action 
of  winds  and  rain  may  have  brought  these,  since  the  cultivation  of  the 
soil  has  been  in  progress,  quite  near  the  surface.  It  requires  but  a  very 
short  time,  geologically  considered,  for  a  tract  of  country,  which, 
while  covered  with  trees,  was  quite  rolling,  to  become  comparatively 
level,  when  once  denuded  of  its  forest  growth  and  put  under  culti 
vation. 

Fig.  378  represents  a  more  marked  example  of  these  thin,  black 
hornstone  pebbles,  which  has  been  utilized  as  an  ornament.  Whether 
the  natural  cordate  outline  of  this  pebble  caused  it  to  be  chosen,  or  not, 
is  doubtful.  The  fact  that  it  is  a  smooth,  jet-black,  and  thin  pebble, 


GORGETS,  TOTEMS,  PENDANTS  AND  TRINKETS.         401 

was  probably  the  sole  cause  of  its  being  perforated,  and  made  thereby 
an  ornament.  While  this  stone  to  us  is  a  conventional  heart  in  shape, 
it  certainly  had  no  meaning  of  this  kind  to  the  Indian  who  made 
it.  "The  two-lobed  form  is  but  a  conventional  device  of  civilized 
man  to  represent  the  human  heart,  and  it  is  not  at  all  probable 
that  the  North  American  Indian  employed  such  a  figure  before  he 
came  into  contact  with  the  Europeans,  especially  as  he  does  not  use 
it  in  his  paintings  and  etchings  at  the  present  time,  but  copies  directly 
from  nature."158 

Occasionally  this  form  has  been  found,  of  wholly  artificial  outline,, 
which  shows  that  it  is  a 
"type"  of  ornamental 
stones,  the  origin  of  which 
may  have  been  the  natural 
pebbles  of  this  shape,  which 
were  chosen  simply  for  their 
attractive  appearance. 

Of  a  later  date  are  heart- 
shaped  pieces  of  sheet-brass 
which  have  been  found  in 
considerable  numbers  in  In 
dian  graves,  in  the  northern 
parts  of  New  Jersey  and  in 

FIG.  378.  — New  Jersey.    |. 

the    New   England    states. 

As  the  material  was  derived  from  the  Europeans,  it  is  probable 
that  these  brass  "hearts,"  like  brass  arrowheads,  were  made  by  the 
whites  and  sold  to  the  Indians,  and  not  generally  designed  by  the 
Indians  themselves. 

Fig.  379  represents  a  split,  water-worn  jasper  pebble,  of  somewhat 
irregular  shape,  with  an  extensive  perforation  through  it.  The  hole 
upon  the  under  or  split  side  is  about  one-half  the  diameter  that  it  is 
upon  the  upper.  The  under  side,  however,  has  an  equally  weather- 

168  Barber.     American  Naturalist,  vol.  xi,  p.  45.     Boston,  Mass.,  1877. 


402  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

worn  polish  with  the  upper,  indicating  that  the  perforation  was  made 
subsequently  to  the  splitting  of  the  pebble,  or  that  many  years  have 
elapsed  since  the  "split"  pebble  was  drilled,  the  peculiar  gloss  of  the 
fractured  surface  indicating  great  age.  The  somewhat  irregular  out 
line  of  the  perforation  upon  the  "split"  side  of  the  pebble  favors  the 
belief  that  the  fracture  occurred  after  the  drilling.  This  specimen  is 
interesting  from  its  resemblance  to  an  African  example  figured  by  Sir 
John  Lubbock.159  This  African  drilled  stone  is  square  instead  of 
pentagonal,  and  the  drilling  is  of  much  less  diameter  at  the  junction 
of  the  two  depressions  which,  together,  make  the  perforation. 

It  may,  perhaps,  be  questioned  if  perforated  pebbles,  as  large  as 


FIG.  379.  —  New  Jersey.    \, 

fig.  379,  were  habitually  used  as  ornaments  or  charms.  May  not 
such  a  stone  as  this  have  been  used  simply  as  a  sinker  for  a  fishing 
line  ?  For  this  purpose  it  is  certainly  well  adapted  ;  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  possesses  no  one  attractive  feature  to  suggest  its  use  as  an  orna 
ment.  This  is  judging  such  a  perforated  pebble,  however,  from  our 
own  standpoint;  and  every  one  will  surely  be  misled  in  such  mat 
ters,  if  he  base  his  opinion  of  the  use  of  any  object,  or  its  value 
in  the  mind  of  a  savage,  upon  his  own  experience.  The  similar 
specimen  from  Africa,  to  which  reference  has  been  made,  was  used 
as  an  ear-ornament,  and  the  weight  and  size  of  fig.  379  are  not  ob- 

189  Jour.  Anthrop.  Inst.  of  Great  Britain,  vol.  i,  pi.  i. 


GORGETS,   TOTEMS,   PENDANTS   AND   TRINKETS. 


403 


j actions  to  the  supposition  that  this  specimen  may  have  been  worn  in 
like  manner.  Earrings,  so  called,  of  greater  weight  and  bulk,  are 
still  worn  by  many  of  the  western  tribes. 

Numerous  specimens,  of  larger,  naturally  perforated  pebbles,  have 
been  found  in  New  Jersey,  especially  on  village  sites,  and  it  is  highly 
probable  that  all  these  had  been  carefully  gathered  and  mostly  worn 
as  ornaments.  When  much  larger  than  fig.  379,  their  use  as  weights 
for  nets  and  lines  is  probable ;  as  large,  artificially  perforated  pebbles 
were  so  used,  as  described  in  chapter  XVIII. 

Fig.  380  represents  a  small  perforated  disk  of  steatite,  which  varies 
much  from  the  preceding,  and  notably  in  being  wholly  of  an  artificial 
shape.  Steatite  rings,  or  disks  of 
this  size  and  smaller,  are  quite 
abundantly  met  with  in  many 
parts  of  Chester  Co.,  Pa.,  from 
which  locality  this  specimen  was 
derived.  That  such  specimens 
were  probably  used  only  as  orna 
ments  is  indicated  by  the  size 
and  the  lightness  of  the  material 
of  which  it  is  made.  It  is  pos 
sible,  also,  that  these  small,  per 
forated  disks  were  used  as  gaming-stones. 
specimens  were  used  as  spindle-whorls,  mace-heads  or  weights  for 
digging-sticks,  uses  ascribed  to  them  as  found  in  other  countries, 
cannot  be  determined ;  but  the  relative  scarcity  of  these  objects  is,  of 
itself,  an  indication  that  their  use,  except  as  ornaments,  was  with  the 
Atlantic  coast  tribes  wholly  exceptional.  Steatite  rings,  of  a  quite 
different  character,  being  more  like  modern  napkin  rings,  are  not  un 
common  in  the  region  of  the  mounds,  not  only  in  Ohio,  but  south 
ward  and  westward  of  that  state.  A  single  fragment  of  such  a  ring 
has  been  found  in  New  Jersey ;  a  second  whole  specimen  was  found 
in  a  grave  in  Lancaster  Co.,  Pa.  From  the  position  in  which  it 
was  lying  when  found,  it  appeared  to  have  been  attached  to  the  hair 


FIG.  380.  —  Pennsylvania,    -f. 


Whether   the    larger 


4°4  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

of  the  person  buried ;  a  third  specimen,  nearly  entire,  was  ploughed 
up  in  a  field  near  Bushkill,  Pike  Co.,  Pa.,  in  the  spring  of  1879. 

Fig.  381  represents  a  very  handsomely  designed  steatite  bead,  of 
which  very  many  have  been  found  in  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania,  and 
in  fewer  numbers  in  New  England.  The  illustration  so  clearly  conveys 
the  character  of  this  pattern  of  bead,  that  a  detailed  description  is 
not  required.  This  specimen  was  found  with  a  small  string  of  shell 
beads  in  an  Indian  grave  in  Mercer  Co.,  New  Jersey.  From  this  it 
might  be  inferred  that  objects  of  this  pattern  were  only  used  singly  in 
association  with  small  beads  of  other  kinds ;  but  such  was  not  always 
the  case;  as  several  strings  of  beads,  all  of  the  size,  pattern  and 
material  of  fig.  381,  are  reported  to  have  been 
taken  from  ancient  Indian  graves  in  New  Jersey. 
With  the  native  tribes  of  the  Atlantic  seaboard, 
as  with  the  Indian  everywhere,  beads  were  the 
commonest  form  of  all  personal  ornaments. 
They  were  made  of  stone,  bone,  shell  and  baked 
clay,  and  present  a  greater  range  of  patterns  than 

FIG.  381.  —  New  Jersey,    -j- 

do  even  the  arrowheads.  Those  of  stone  and 
baked  clay  were  probably  never  as  abundant  as  the  shell  and  bone 
bead?,  and  as  the  date  of  earliest  European  contact  is  that  of  the 
abandonment  of  their  manufacture,  they  are  not  now  very  frequently 
met  with. 

A  simple  form  of  a  bead  is  a  small  pebble  that  has  a  natural  per 
foration.  Many  such  occur  in  our  tertiary  gravels.  Occasionally,  a 
series  of  these  have  been  found  in  a  grave.  May  not  such  pebbles 
have  been  the  starting-point,  from  which  were  developed  the  manu 
facture  and  general  use  of  elaborate  beads  of  all  patterns  ? 

Figs.  382  to  386,  inclusive,  represent  a  pretty  series  of  small  disks 
of  sandstone  and  other  more  compact  minerals,  which,  by  a  single 
perforation  and,  in  some,  a  notching  of  the  edges,  have  been  converted 
into  veritable  trinkets.  These,  it  can  readily  be  seen,  are  by  fact  of 
being  thin  disks  not  available  as  beads ;  but  as  additions  to  a  string 
of  beads  they  might  be  used,  and  also  as  small  pendants  with  which 


GORGETS,   TOTEMS,    PENDANTS   AND   TRINKETS. 


405 


their  pipe-stems  were  decorated.     Indeed,  there  is  scarcely  a  limit  to 
the  methods  of  utilizing  these  objects  for  decorative  purposes. 

In  many  localities  these  small  perforated  stone  disks  are  very  abun 
dant,  and  they  have  been  found  by  the  score  where  beads  were  rarely, 
if  ever,  met  with.  That  they  really  took  the  place  of  beads  is,  how 
ever,  exceedingly  improbable.  As  a  series  these  small  perforated 
stones,  both  with  worked  and  unworked  edges,  bear  a  strong  resem 
blance  to  the  beautiful  shell  ornaments  from  southern  California.160 


FlGS.  382  to  386.  —  New  Jersey.     \. 

Fig.  387  represents  a  common  object  in  all  series  of  Indian  orna 
ments  found  in  New  Jersey.  The  fossil  sharks'  teeth,  that  occur  so 
abundantly  in  the  cretaceous  formations  of  New  Jersey,  did  not  es 
cape  the  quick  eye  of  the  Indian,  and  they  were  used,  when  perforated, 
as  in  fig.  387,  as  ornaments,  and  very  probably  to  some  extent  as 
arrowheads.  These  are  probably  the  "fishes'  teeth,  fastened  in  with 

100 U.  S.  Geog.  Survey  West  of  looth  Meridian,  vol.  vii,  Archaeology,  pi.  xii. 


406 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


FlG.    387.  — New    Jer 
sey.     }. 


glue,"  to  which  Holm  refers.161     They  do<  not  appear  to  have  been  in 

common  use,  in  any  manner,  much  beyond  the  valley  of  the  Delaware 

river. 

Fig.  388  represents  a  canine  tooth  of  a  bear,  with  a  perforation 

near  the  base.  This  is  one  of  the  most  common  objects,  of  all  the 
Indian  trinkets,  and  is  to-day  as  much  in  use  as 
even  in  ancient  times.  Frequently  a  dozen  have 
been  found  in  a  single  grave.. 

While  canine  teeth  of  other  animals  were  also 
used  as  ornaments,  as  of  the  wolf  and  wild-cat, 
those  of  the  bear  were  generally  chosen,  or,  at 
least,  largely  outnumber  the  teeth  of  other  an 
imals  that  have  been  thus  utilized. 

Fig.  389,  represents  a 
curiously-shaped  clay  orna 
ment,  such  as  are  of  com 
mon  occurrence  in  some 

localities,  but  are  rarely  met  with  in  others.    This 

specimen  is  made  of  nearly  pure  clay,  and  has 

been  burnt ,  to  nearly  a  black  color.     There  are 

two  holes  or  perforations  in  each  end  o  f  t  h  e 

globular  portion  of  the  object,  but  these  do  not 

extend   through.      A    cord   therefore    was    not 

passed  through  it. 

Objects  of  this  character,  and  others  that  are 

rude  representations  of  animals'  and  birds'  heads,. 

are  quite  rarely  met  with  in  southern  New  Jersey, 

but  are  common  in  the   neighborhood   of  the 

Delaware  Water  Gap  and  throughout  the  eastern 

portions  of  New  York  state.     In  New  England  they  are  less  frequently 

found.     Mr.  Frey162  figures  two  examples  of  these  clay  ornaments, 

161  Holm,  /.  c.,  p.  129. 

162  Frey.     Amer.  Nat.,  vol.  12,  p.  782,  figs.  10  and  n. 


FIG.  388.  — New   Jer 
sey.    \. 


GORGETS,   TOTEMS,    PENDANTS   AND   TRINKETS. 


407 


FIG.  389.  — New  Jersey. 


one  representing  an  owl's  head,  the  other  that  of  a  fox.  These,  as 
he  remarks,  "are  rude  in  style  *  *  *  but  by  no  means  inferior  to 
similar  terra-cottas  from  Mycenae  and  Cyprus." 

Some  of  the  Atlantic  coast  pottery  had  the  margins  of  the  vessels 
ornamented  with  objects,  either  mean 
ingless  like  fig.  389,  or  representing 
animals'  heads,  as  is  so  commonly  the 
case  with  the  mound-builders'  pottery 
of  the  southwestern 
states.  Objects  of  this 
kind,  therefore,  when 
found  in  a  fragmentary 
condition,  and  showing 

by  the  fracture  that  they  had  been  detached  from  a 
vessel,  can  be  readily  distinguished  from  those  that 
were  made  as  separate  ornaments. 

Figs.  390  and  391,  which  conclude  the  series  of 
objects  described  in  this  chapter,  may  be  thought  to 
be  misplaced,  when  considered  as  ornaments.  That 
these  small,  cylindrical  pebbles,  with  the  groove  near 
one  end,  are  possible  sinkers  for  fishing-lines,  is  a  very 
natural  view  to  take  of  them  probably,  but  it  is  one 
that  cannot  be  shown  conclusively  to  have  been  the 
case.  While  they  are  in  shape,  the  mini 
mum  size  of  the  well-known  "plummet" 
of  New  England,  they  are  so  small  and 
FIG.  390.— New  ma(je  Of  so  light  a  stone,  that  they  would 

Jersey*    ~v. 

be  of  little  use  as  sinkers  ;  and  the  fact  that 
one,  identical  with  the  larger  of  these  two,  was  found  in  a 
grave  with  a  series  of  shell  beads,  and  three  brass  buttons, 
made  it  evident  that  it  had  finally  been  used  as  an  orna 
ment,  if  it  had  had  other  uses  in  the  lifetime  of  him  in  New  Jersey>  • 
whose  grave  it  was  found. 


408  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

The  custom  of  wearing  and  carrying  about  the  person  small 
trinkets,  such  as  have  been  described  in  this  chapter,  is  by  no  means 
confined  to  the  Indians  of  this  continent.  Mr.  Ludwig  Kumlein,  in 
his  valuable  notes  on  the  Eskimo  of  Cumberland  Sound  (Bulletin 
of  the  National  Museum,  No.  15,  p.  45,  Washington,  D.  C.,  1879), 
remarks  of  this  people  :  "Among  their  many  superstitious  notions, 
the  wearing  of  charms  about  the  person  is  one  of  the  most  curi 
ous.  These  are  called  amgoouk,  or  amusit,  and  may  be  nothing 
but  pieces  of  bone  or  wood,  birds'  bills  or  claws,  or  an  animal's 
teeth  or  skin.  To  these  charms  they  attribute  supernatural  powers, 
and  believe  them  to  be  able  to  keep  the  wearer  from  sickness  or 
misfortune.  It  is  a  common  custom  for  the  wife  to  throw  a  piece 
of  seals'  blubber  on  her  husband's  kyack  when  he  is  about  to  go 
hunting ;  this  will  give  him  success.  Little  strips  of  deer-skin  are 
hung  about  the  person  in  different  places  to  insure  success  in 
some  undertaking  or  to  ward  off  some  misfortune,  real  or  imagi 
nary.  We  discovered  one  of  these  charms,  which  seemed  to 
possess  unusual  interest.  It  was  worn  by  a  little  girl  about  eight 
years  old.  She  had  a  small  envelope  of  seal-skin  that  was  worn 
on  the  back  of  her  inside  jacket.  We  succeeded  in  bribing  her 
grandmother  to  show  us  the  contents  of  the  envelope,  which  proved 
to  be  two  small  stones,  the  one  a  bluish  flint,  the  other  apparently 
meteoric  iron.  The  tradition  connected  with  these  stones,  the  grand 
mother  said,  is  that  a  very  long  time  ago  an  Eskimo,  from  whom  she 
was  a  lineal  descendant,  had  discovered  the  iron,  and  had  picked  up 
a  stone  to  break  a  piece  off  and  take  home  with  him ;  but  when  he 
struck  the  iron  fire  flew  from  it,  and  he  soon  learned  how  to  make  use 
of  this  accidental  discovery,  and  became  a  great  man  among  the 
people.  At  this  point  we  lost  the  thread  of  the  old  woman's  narra 
tive,  and  all  we  could  further  learn  was  that  these  two  small  pieces  had 
been  preserved  in  the  family  for  successive  generations,  and  were 
inherited  by  her  from  her  mother,  and  that  she  had  now  given  them 
to  her  grandchild,  the  child's  mother  being  dead.  The  child  will  in 


GORGETS,  TOTEMS,  PENDANTS  AND  TRINKETS.          409 

turn  give  it  to  her  children.  She  thought  this  charm  of  inestimable 
value,  and  could  not  be  induced  to  part  with  it,  for,  she  said,  '  no  one 
has  yet  died  while  wearing  this  charm.' 

"Another  charm  of  great  value  to  the  mother  who  has  a  young 
babe  is  the  canine  tooth  of  the  polar  bear.  This  is  used  as  a  kind  of 
clasp  to  a  seal-skin  string,  which  passes  around  the  body  and  keeps 
the  breasts  up.  Her  milk-supply  cannot  fail  while  she  wears  this." 


CHAPTER     XXVIII 


COPPER  IMPLEMENTS. 


IF  we  are  to  judge  of  the  extent  to  which  copper  was  used  by  the 
native  populations  of  the  northern  Atlantic  seaboard  of  this  country, 
by  the  number  of  objects  made  of  it,  which  have  been  discovered,  it 
is  evident  that  we  must  look  upon  the  use  of  this  mineral  as  an  ex 
ceptional  occurrence,  interesting  in  itself  but  of  no  ethnological  sig 
nificance.  Indeed,  the  character  of  the  few  copper  implements  found, 
judging  from  their  size  and  shape,  although  apparently  indicating 
that  the  value  of  this  material  for  certain  useful  purposes  had  been 
recognized,  does  not  really  establish  the  fact,  inasmuch  as  they  cer 
tainly  are  not  as  serviceable  as  their  counterparts  of  polished  stone. 
Native  copper,  worked  merely  by  hammering,  as  was  done  by  these 
people,  is  not  sufficiently  hard  to  retain  a  cutting  edge.  To  this 
end,  it  must  be  converted  into  bronze.  As  pure  copper,  it  is  not  so 
valuable  for  cutting  purposes,  as  newly  chipped  or  even  polished 
stone. 

It  is  quite  probable  that  the  copper  " celts,"  made  by  the  Indians 
of  the  Atlantic  coast,  were  never  designed  for  use  as  weapons  or 
implements,  but  were  intended  for  display  upon  special  occasions  ;  as 
for  instance  in  their  various  dances,  when  much  ceremony  was  ob 
served,  and  various  objects  were  displayed,  that  at  other  times  remained 
hidden  in  the  custody  of  their  fortunate  owners,  or  of  the  appointed 
keepers,  if  tribal  property. 

In  the  description  of  the  white-deer  dance  of  the  Hupa  Indians 
of  California,  to  which  reference  has  already  been  made  on  page  307, 
Mr.  Powers  remarks  that  there  are  many  articles  paraded  and  worn  in 
their  various  ceremonial  dances,  that  are  held  in  great  esteem,  as 

(411) 


412  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

"rendering  their  possessors  illustrious  in  the  eyes  of  all  men."  Among 
them  "is  the  flake  or  knife  of  obsidian  or  jasper."  In  this  manner 
the  copper  celts,  found  along  our  Atlantic  coast,  which  when  new 
were  bright,  lustrous  and  attractive  looking,  were  possibly  used ;  and 
hence  they  might  be  classed  with  the  ceremonial  objects  described  in 
a  preceding  chapter. 

The  several  forms  of  small  copper  implements,  such  as  the  awls, 
needles  and  spoon-shaped  objects,  met  with  in  some  western  localities, 
and  particularly  in  Wisconsin,  have  not  been  found  on  the  Atlantic 
coast ;  .and,  indeed,  unless  the  implements  of  this  material  have  been 
so  far  destroyed  by  chemical  action  (through  exposure  to  the  atmos 
phere  and  soils  unfitted  for  their  preservation) ,  it  is  strange  that  there 
should  be  so  very  few  examples  within  the  limits  of  New  Jersey,  con 
sidering  the  amount  of  material  accessible  to  the  native  tribes. 

The  late  Prof.  Lewis  C.  Beck,163  in  an  able  account  of  the  occur 
rence  of  copper  in  New  Jersey,  remarks  that  "small  pieces  of  this 
metal  have  been  found  on  the  surface  of  the  ground  in  various  parts 
of  New  Jersey.  In  the  vicinity  of  Somerville,  specimens  weighing 
from  five  to  ten  pounds,  have  been  obtained.  The  largest  mass 
which  has,  to  my  knowledge,  been  found  in  New  Jersey,  is  now  in 
possession  of  James  C.  Vandyke,  Esq.,  of  New  Brunswick.  Its  weight 
is  seventy-eight  pounds ;  but  a  large  piece  has  been  detached,  and 
it  is  said  to  have  weighed  when  first  obtained,  one  hundred  and 
twenty-eight  pounds.  It  was  ploughed  up  by  a  farmer  near  Somer 
ville.  On  examining  this  specimen,  pure  metallic  copper  is  visible  in 
various  parts ;  but  with  it  is  mixed  the  lead-gray  oxide,  and  it  is  gen 
erally  incrusted  with  the  green  carbonate  of  copper."  Prof.  G.  H. 
Cook 164  also  reports  copper  as  occurring  in  the  city  of  New  Bruns 
wick.  He  remarks  that "  flakes  of  metallic  copper,  from  one-sixteenth 
to  one-eighth  of  an  inch  in  thickness,  and  one  or  two  feet  across,  have 
been  found  in  cutting  the  street  east  of  the  college,  and  also  in  digging 
a  cellar  in  Somerset  street." 

i"3  Beck.     Amer.  Jour,  of  Science;  vol.  xxxvi,  p.  107.     New  Haven,  Conn. 
10*  Cook.     Geology  of  New  Jersey,  p.  678.     Newark,  1868. 


COPPER   IMPLEMENTS.  413 

Kalm  mentions  (Travels  in  N.  A.,  vol.  i,  p.  300,  2nd  ed.,  1772) 
that  "  the  Indians,  before  the  arrival  of  the  Europeans,  had  no  notion 
of  the  use  of  iron,  though  that  metal  was  abundant  in  their  country. 
However,  they  knew  in  some  measure  how  to  make  use  of  copper. 
Some  Dutchmen  who  lived  here  (Philadelphia)  still  preserved  the  old 
account  among  them,  that  their  ancestors  at  their  first  settling  in 
New  York  had  met  with  many  Indians,  who  had  tobacco  pipes  of 
copper,  and  who  made  them  understand  by  signs,  that  they  got  them 
in  the  neighborhood ;  afterwards  the  fine  copper  mine  was  discovered 
upon  the  second  river  between  Elizabethtown  and  New  York  (/.  e.,  in 
New  Jersey).  On  digging  in  this  mine,  the  people  met  with  holes 
worked  in  the  mountain,  out  of  which  some  copper  had  been  taken, 
and  they  found  even  some  tools  which  the  Indians  probably  made 
use  of  when  they  endeavored  to  get  the  metal  for  their  pipes.  Such 
holes  in  the  mountains  have  likewise  been  found  in  some  parts  of 
Pennsylvania,  viz. :  below  New  Castle  towards  the  seaside,  and  always 
some  marks  of  copper  are  along  with  them.  Some  people  have  con 
jectured  that  the  Spaniards  *  *  *  *  made  these  holes  in  the  moun 
tains  :  but  *  *  *  *  it  is  *  *  *  *  almost  undoubted  that  the  Indians 
dug  these  holes." 

It  would  seem  from  the  above  that  the  Indians  had  access  to  a 
great  deal  more  copper  than  they  appear  ever  to  have  made  use  of, 
limited,  as  it  was,  in  comparison  to  the  supply  obtainable  in  the  Lake 
Superior  region.  Indeed,  it  is  not  improbable  that  all  the  copper 
articles,  found  along  the  Atlantic  coast,  were  brought  from  western 
localities  ;  and  that  the  metal  that  was  at  hand  in  New  Jersey  was  not 
recognized,  or,  at  least,  not  utilized.  Covered  in  part  by  earth,  dis 
colored  by  oxidation,  and  lying  among  rock  of  many  descriptions 
in  a  densely  wooded  country,  it  might  well  have  escaped  even  the 
notice  of  the  keen-eyed  redskin. 

Whether  the  copper  of  New  Jersey,  or  that  from  other  localities,  was 
utilized,  it  is  certain  that  there  was  enough  in  use,  when  the  Euro 
peans  first  visited  these  shores,  to  attract  their  attention.  Robert 


414  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

Juet,165  who  served  under  Hendrick  Hudson  as  mate  in  the  Half- 
Moon,  relates  in  his  journal  that  the  Indians  "had  red  copper  tobacco- 
pipes,  and  other  things  of  copper  they  did  wear  about  their  necks." 

The  use  of  this  mineral,  it  would  appear  from  the  account  given  by 
Brereton,  was  much  more  common  among  the  Indians  of  Massachu 
setts,  than  among  these  tribes  occupying  the  territory  between  the 
Hudson  and  the  Susquehanna  rivers.  Brereton's  statement  is,  as 
given  in  his  Brief  and  True  Relation  of  the  Discovery  of  the  Northern 
Part  of  Virginia  ;  London,  1602,  that  "they  have  great  store  of  copper, 
some  very  red  and  some  of  a  pale  color :  none  of  them  but  have 
chains,  ear-rings  or  collars  of  this  metal :  they  head  some  of  their 
arrows  here  with  *  *  *  *  *  *  broad  arrowheads,  very  workmanly 
made.  Their  chains  are  many  hollow  pieces  cemented  together,  each 
piece  of  the  bigness  of  one  of  our  reeds,  a  finger  in  length,  ten  or 
twelve  of  them  together  on  a  string,  which  they  wear  about  their 
necks  :  their  collars  they  wear  about  their  bodies  like  bandeliers  a 
handful  broad,  all  hollow  pieces,  like  the  others  very  fine  and  evenly 
set  together.  Besides  these,  they  have  large  drinking  cups  made  like 
skulls,  and  over  them  thin  plates  of  copper,  made  like  our  boar  spear 
blades,  all  which  they  so  little  esteem,  as  they  offered  their  fairest 
collars  or  chains  for  a  knife  or  such  like  trifle  ;  but  we  seemed  little  to 
regard  it,  yet  I  was  desirous  to  understand  where  they  had  such  store 
of  this  metal,  and  made  signs  to  one  of  them  (with  whom  I  was  very 
familiar)  who,  taking  a  piece  of  copper  in  his  hand,  made  a  hole  with 
his  finger  in  the  ground,  and  withal  pointed  to  the  main  from  whence 
they  came." 

Celts  made  of  copper  have  been  occasionally  found  in  Maine, 
Massachusetts,  New  York,  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey.  Many  un 
recorded  specimens,  of  course,  have  been  gathered,  and  are  lost  to 
science,  but  their  number  is  probably  not  sufficient  to  affect  the 
statement,  as  to  their  comparative  rarity  in  the  territory  mentioned. 

165  See  Rau  in  Smithson.  Annual  Report  for  1872  for  an  able  essay  on  Copper,  from  which  the 
above  reference  is  derived. 


COPPER   IMPLEMENTS.  415 

Mr.  A.  F.  Berlin166  has  described  a  specimen  found  near  Millbach, 
Lebanon  Co.,  Pa.,  which  is  much  smaller  than  usual,  measuring  but 
two  and  a  quarter  inches  in  length. 

Mr.  L.  W.  Brodhead167  has  recorded  the  finding  of  "a  copper  axe, 
made  however  from  the  raw  material  (/.  e.,  hammered  into  shape) 
and  ground  down  to  the  required  size  and  form." 

Mr.  Elias  Lewis,  jr.,168  of  the  Long  Island  Historical  Society,  has 
kindly  sent  me  the  following  information  respecting  copper  implements, 
in  the  cabinets  of  that  institution.  He  writes  that  among  various 
other  implements  "are  two  copper  axes,  one  very  rude,  the  other  well 
formed ;  both  obtained  from  one  spot,  with  a  polished  axe  of  hard 
jasper ;  surrounded  by  twenty  large  flint  arrowheads  setting  upright. 
They  were  two  feet  below  the  surface." 

Mr.  F.  W.  Putnam 169  has  recorded  copper  celts  as  found  at  Wake- 
field,  Mass. 

Fig.  392  represents  the  more  common  form  of  the  copper  celts  found 
along  the  northern  Atlantic  seaboard.  This  specimen  measures  three 
and  one-fourth  inches  in  length,  and  has  a  cutting  edge  of  two  inches 
in  extent.  The  upper  and  lower  margins  are  almost  twice  as  thick  as 
the  blade.  The  marks  of  the  hammer,  by  Which  this  celt  has  been 
shaped,  are  plainly  seen  over  most  of  the  surface  except  at  the  edge 
and  on  the  adjoining  portion  of  the  blade  from  which  all  hammer- 
marks  have  been  removed  by  subsequent  grinding.  It  was  found 
near  Damariscotta,  Maine,  and  is  preserved  in  the  museum  of  Ar 
chaeology,  at  Cambridge,  Mass. 

Mr.  Squier  mentions,  in  his  Aboriginal  Monuments  of  New  York 
(Smithsonian  Contributions  to  Knowledge,  vol.  ii,  p.  78),  the  dis 
covery  of  a  copper  celt,  similar  to  figure  392,  "ploughed  up  some 
where  in  the  vicinity  of  Auburn,  Cayuga  county."  He  further  says, 


166  Berlin.     American  Antiquarian,  vol.  ii,  p.  154.     Chicago,  1879. 

167  Brodhead.     Delaware  Water  Gap,  p.  89.     Printed  for  author.     Philadelphia,  1870. 

168  Elias  Lewis,  jr.     Official  Correspondence  of  Long  Island   Historical    Society.     Brooklyn, 
1877. 

1G9Pnitnam.     Bulletin  of  Essex  Institute,  vol.  i,  p.  90.    Salem,  Mass.,  1869. 


416 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


"it  appears  to  be  pure  copper,"  and  does  not  express  the  belief  that 
it  was  "cast"  but  that  it  simply  had  that  appearance,  due  to  "the 
granulations  of  the  surface  ;"  unless,  indeed,  it  was  made  from  molten 
copper,  either  by  the  Europeans,  or  by  the  Indians  after  they  had 
acquired  the  art  of  moulding  copper,  from  the  white  settlers.  It  is 
now  well  ascertained,  however,  that  the  granular  surfaces  of  many  of 
the  copper  objects  found  are  due  to  the  oxidation  of  these  surfaces. 
Still,  it  should  be  here  mentioned  that  Roger  Williams  (Key  to  the 
Indian  Language,  p.  55)  says,  of  the  Indians  of  Rhode  Island,  that 


FIG.  392.  — Maine.    -J-. 

"  they  have  an  Excellent  Art  to  cast  our  Pewter  and  Brasse  into  very 
neate  and  artificiall  Pipes." 

Through  the  kindness  of  Rev.  W.  M.  Beauchamp  of  Baldwinsville, 
New  York,  I  have  been  able  to  gather  some  important  facts  with  refer 
ence  to  the  occurrence  of  native  copper  implements,  to  all  appearance 
the  handiwork  of  the  Indians,  and  am  indebted  to  him  for  the  follow 
ing  illustrations  of  characteristic  forms. 

Fig.  393  represents  a  "copper  gouge  belonging  to  Albert  Hopkins 
of  the  town  of  Phoenix,  on  the  Oswego  river,  New  York.  It  was 
found  in  Oswego  Co.  of  that  state."  This  specimen  is  "convex  on 
the  lower  side,  nearly  flat  upon  the  upper,  with  long  ridges.  The  cut- 


COPPER   IMPLEMENTS. 


417 


l\fl 


ting  edge  is  hammered  into  a  hollow  on  the  upper  side,  and  is  round 
(convex)  on  the  lower."  This  specimen  has  recently  been  somewhat 
mutilated. 

Mr.  Beauchamp  has  kindly  informed  me  of  other  specimens  of  celts, 
and  gouges  found  in  the  same  neighbor 
hood,  one  of  which  is  remarkable  for  its 
size.  This  specimen,  of  which  I  have  a 
beautifully  executed  drawing,  made  by 
Mr.  Beauchamp,  is  described  by  him  as 
a  "large  copper  implement  found  by  Mr. 
J.  Schultz,  in  May,  1880.  One  side  is 
nearly  flat,  very  slightly  hollowing;  the 
other  ridged,  as  in  like  implements,  and 
a  little  hollowing  on  each  side  of  the 
ridge.  There  are  the  usual  flattened 
rough  lines,  which  I  now  see  are  probably 
part  of  the  original  surface,  the  rest  being 
corroded  and  granulated.  It  has  a  dull, 
chisel  edge.  Its  weight  is  two  pounds, 
fourteen  ounces."  This  specimen  meas 
ures  one  and  three-eighths  inches  in 
width,  at  the  upper  end ;  one  and  three- 
fourths  inches  wide  at  the  cutting  edge, 
and  eleven  and  one-half  inches  in  length. 

In  reply  to  enquiries  concerning  the 
evidence  still  existing  of  the  use  of  cop 
per  by  the  Indians  formerly  occupying 
western  New  York,  Mr.  Beauchamp  fur 
ther  says  "shreds  of  sheet  copper  are 
common  at  Indian  Hill,  in  Pompey, 
having  apparently  been  used  to  make  ornaments  on  the  spot.  Pen 
dants  of  thin  copper  may  yet  be  picked  up  there,  and  arrows  of  the 
same  are  found." 

Fig.  394  represents  a  spearpoint  of  native  copper  "found  near  a 
27 


1 


FIG.  393.— New  York.     ij. 


4i8 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


\ 


stockade  site  on  Seneca  river.  The  site  is  prehistoric,  and  I  found 

a  rolled  copper  bead  there.  This 
spear  is  in  the  collection  of  Mr.  Otis 
M.  Bigelow,  of  Baldwinsville,  N.  Y." 

Fig.  395  represents  a  "copper  ar 
row  or  spear  found  near  the  river, 
six  miles  west  of  here  (Baldwinsville) 
but  not  on  a  village  site.  Another  of 
the  same  pattern,  certainly  pure  cop 
per,  hammered,  was  discovered  under 
the  roots  of  a  large  tree  which  had 
been  felled.  This  specimen,  also,  is 
in  the  possession  of  Mr  Bigelow." 

Mr.  Beauchamp  further  informs 
me  that  "the  other  copper  finds  in 
that  neighborhood,  so  far  as  he  can 
learn,  are  "one  large  arrow,  two 
gouges,  two  large  and  unique  celts, 
and  a  copper  bead  or  sinker." 

Arrowheads  and  other  objects, 
both  of  copper  and  brass,  are  also 
found  in  this  same  locality,  which  are 
of  European  manufacture,  but  Mr. 
Beauchamp  considers  them  readily 
distinguishable  from  similar  articles, 
made  of  hammered,  native  copper. 
It  is  not  at  all  improbable  that 
copper  weapons  were  in  quite  gen 
eral  use,  at  the  time  of  European 
contact,  and  the  early  voyagers  see 
ing  these  objects  of  copper,  simply 
introduced  a  better  finished  article, 
just  as  they  did  glass  beads,  and 
so  led  to  a  discontinuance  of  the  manufacture  of  native  copper  arti- 


Fia.  394.  —  New  York.     |. 


COPPER  IMPLEMENTS. 


419 


cles,  by  the  Indians.  That  the  two  patterns  (as  well  as  a  third  form, 
which  is  that  of  Indian-made  objects  of  European  sheet  copper) 
should  now  be  found  associated  is  quite  natural, 
for  the  introduction  of  European  copper  would 
not  have  led  to  the  discarding  of  home-made 
objects,  of  the  same  material.  Judging  from  the 
number  of  objects  of  brass  found  in  many 
localities  near  the  seacoast,  it  is  probble  that  this 
material,  rather  than  pure  copper,  was  mostly 
used  in  manufacturing  such  objects  as  were  used 
in  barter  with  the  coast  tribes.  On  the  other 
hand,  objects  like  figs.  393  and  394  may  have 
been  made  in  Wisconsin,  where  so  many  similar 
specimens  have  been  found,  and  brought  as  far 
east  as  western  New  York,  by  that  system  of 
trade,  which,  it  is  well  known,  existed  between 
the  many  tribes  or  nations,  occupying  the  whole 
North  American  continent. 

(,'.'  v  ij  The  ornaments  of  copper,  as  yet  discovered 
_  ".  .liJ  }J»J  /  along  the  Atlantic  coast,  do  not  differ  in  pattern 
from  those  of  stone.  So  far  as  ascertained,  there 
have  been  a  few  examples  of  plain  gorgets, 
disks  with  one  or  more  perforations,  and  a  few 
globular  and  long  cylindrical  beads,  found  in 
graves ;  and  less  frequently  single  specimens 
have  been  ploughed  up;  but  all  the  material 
now  preserved  in  our  museums  would  not  suggest 
to  any  one,  that  any  of  the  New  England  tribes 
or  those  occupying  the  coast  so  far  south  as 
New  Jersey,  ever  had  "great  store  of  copper." 

The  tobacco  pipes  made  of  copper,  to  which 
Juet  refers,  may  possibly  not  have  been  copper,  but  merely  wrapped 
with  a  thin  sheet  of  that  metal.  This  suggestion  is  based  upon  the 


FIG.  395.  —  New  York,    -f 


420 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 


fact  that  clay  pipes  covered  in  this  manner  have  been   taken   from 
Indian  graves  in  Massachusetts. 

In  this  connection,  I  desire  to  call  attention  to  an  unusually  long, 
cylindrical  bead  or  tube  made  of  sheet  brass,  recently  found  by  Mr. 
Wm.  Wallace  Tooker  of  Sag  Harbor,  New  York,  at 
"Sabonic  Neck,  Shinnecock  Hills,  Long  Island;"  and 
which  has  been  kindly  loaned  for  illustration,  fig.  396.  It 
measures  four  and  one-quarter  inches  in  length  and  one- 
fourth  of  an  inch  in  diameter.  It  is  neatly  rolled  and 
the  diameter  is  nearly  uniform  throughout  its  entire  length. 
Judging  from  the  smallness  of  the  perforation,  and  the 
character  of  the  material  of  which  this  specimen  is  made, 
it  may  be  safely  said  that  it  was  used  as  a  bead  or  pendant, 
and  not  as  a  pipe. 

In  the  collection  of  the  same  gentleman,  there  is  also 
an  interesting  specimen  of  a  brass  arrowhead,  fig.  397, 
from  Long  Island.  It  is  of  the  ordinary  triangular  pat 
tern,  with  the  sides  and  base  slightly  convex  in  outline. 
At  a  distance  from  the  base,  of  about  one-third  the  length, 
there  is  a  small,  circular  perforation.  The  surfaces  have 
apparently  been  hammered,  and  not  rolled,  although  they 
are  quite  smooth,  and  the  specimen  has  a  uniform  thick 
ness  of  one-fortieth  of  an  inch.  It  is  identical  in  size  and 
pattern  with  a  series  of  brass  specimens,  now  in  the  archae 
ological  museum  at  Cambridge,  Mass.  It  was  found  in 
an  ancient  grave,  at  Revere,  Mass.,  and  does  not  differ 
materially  from  metal  arrowheads  found  by  the  late  Prof. 
Haldeman,  in  Pennsylvania.  In  his  posthumous  publica 
tion,  "  On  the  Contents  of  a  Rock  Retreat  in  southeastern 
Pennsylvania"  (Transactions  of  the  American  Philosoph 
ical  Society,  vol.  xv,  p.  351),  that  author  figures  a  small  brass  arrow 
head,  of  which  he  remarks,  "fig.  35  represents  a  thin  regular  metallic 
arrowhead  of  a  coppery  appearance,  but  yellow  on  a  new  surface, 


FIG.  396. 
NewYbrk. 


COPPER   IMPLEMENTS.  421 

and  presumed  to  be  European  brass,  therefore  within  the  historic 
period,  with  brass  dishes  occurring  in  graves.  It  was  found  outside 
of  the  retreat."  The  specimen  described  in  the  above  quotation  is 
about  one-third  smaller  than  fig.  397  and  is  without  the  perforation. 

Irregularly  shaped  fragments  of  sheet  brass,  also,  and  in  some  cases 
of  silver  mixed  with  copper,  have  been  found  in  New  Jersey,  associated 
with  the  ordinary  surface-found  stone  implements.  In  the  course  of  a 
few  years'  collecting,  the  late  Prof.  Haldeman  found  similar  fragments 
quite  frequently.  In  one  of  the  small  islands  in  the  Susquehanna  riv 
er,  near  Columbia,  Pennsylvania,  he  found  many  "torn  bits  of  sheet 
brass,"  associated  with  stone  implements. 

These  specimens,  as  well  as  all  others  of  the  same  material,  are  of 
comparatively  recent  origin,  as  all  the  evidence  goes  to  show  that  the 
Indians  of  the  Atlantic  coast  at  the  time  of  the 
arrival  of  the  whites,  were  ignorant  of  the  man 
ufacture  of  brass,  and  only  knew  copper  as  a 
mineral  that  could  be  rolled  and  hammered,  but 
not  smelted. 

The  Jesuit  missionary,  Claude  Allouez,  says  of 
the  Indians  at  Lake  Superior,  that  they  "  respect 
this  lake  as  a  divinity,  and  offer  sacrifices  to  it 
because  of  its  size,  for  it  is  two  hundred  leagues 

FIG.  397.  —  New  York.    \. 

long  and  eighty  broad.  It  happens 

frequently  that  pieces  of  copper  are  found  weighing  from  ten  to  twenty 
pounds.  I  have  seen  several  such  pieces  in  the  hands  of  savages ; 
and  since  they  are  very  superstitious,  they  esteem  them  as  divinities, 
or  as  presents  given  to  them  to  promote  their  happiness,  by  the  gods 
who  dwell  beneath  the  water.  For  this  reason  they  preserve  these 
pieces  of  copper  wrapped  up  with  their  most  precious  articles.  In 
some  families  they  have  been  kept  for  more  than  fifty  years ;  in 
others,  they  have  descended  from  time  out  of  mind — being  cher 
ished  as  domestic  gods."  (Quoted  in  "Report  on  the  Copper-lands 
of  Lake  Superior,  by  Foster  and  Whitney,  Washington,  D.  C.,  1850, 
P-  7-") 


422 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


The  preceding  quotation  renders  it  the  more  probable,  I  think,  that 
the  plain,  so-called  copper  celts  found  on  the  Atlantic  coast  were  more 
likely  to  have  been  regarded  in  this  light,  than  used  as  cutting  instru 
ments  ;  but  the  variety  of  forms  of  metallic  implements  and  weapons 
found  in  western  New  York,  on  the  other  hand,  are  to  be  looked  upon 
more  as  objects  in  daily  use.  To  a  certain  extent  also,  they  may  be 
of  comparatively  recent  origin,  as  there  is  sufficient  evidence  to  show 
that  in  the  historic  period  they  made  their  own  arrowheads  from  metal 
derived  from  the  European  traders.  Thus,  we  find  in  Underhill's  his 
tory  of  the  Pequot  War,  that  a  Dutch  trader  was  prevented  bartering 
with  the  Pequots,  on  the  ground  that  they  were  to  be  supplied  in  part 
with  "kettles  or  the  like,  which  make  them  arrowheads."  (Mass. 
Hist.  Collections,  3rd  series,  vol.  vi,  p.  17,  Boston,  1837.) 


CHAPTER     XXIX. 


HAND-HAMMERS   AND   RUBBING   STONES. 


IN  picking  up  a  pebble  and  striking  a  blow  with  it,  we  do  but  repeat 
an  act  of  primitive  man  when  he  chose  a  rounded  pebble,  and  used  it 
as  a  hammer.  Had  the  pebbles,  that  required  no  preparatory  altera 
tions  in  order  to  be  made  available,  been  used  only  to  strike  upon 
substances  more  yielding  than  themselves,  they  could  not  now  be 
recognized  as  relics  of  a  vanished  race.  Indeed,  those  that  were  used 
only  for  cracking  nuts,  or  as  weapons,  are  now  nothing  but  pebbles  to 
us,  although  many  of  them  have  had  a  history,  as  a  weapon  or  ham 
mer,  which,  if  known,  would  dispel  every  doubt  that  envelops  the 
dawn  of  civilization. 

In  the  present  chapter,  these  small  pebble-hammers,  here  called 
hand-hammers  to  distinguish  them  from  the  hafted  hammers  or  mauls 
already  described,  are  associated  with  a  very  dissimilar  class  of  stones, 
which  were  used  largely  in  connection  with  them.  It  is  supposed  that 
the  "pecking,"  or  process  by  which  stone  implements,  such  as  grooved 
axes,  were  brought  to  the  desired  shape,  was  done  with  them.  This 
pecking  process  would  appear,  from  experiment,  to  be  as  destructive 
to  the  hammer,  as  it  was  effective  in  removing  the  surface  of  the  stone 
operated  upon,  and  hence  it  is  probable  that  more  than  one  such  hand- 
hammer  was  required  to  remove  the  inequalities,  and  reduce  the  stone 
chosen  for  an  axe,  pestle  or  other  implement,  to  the  required  form. 
By  reference  to  fig.  6,  p.  18,  it  will  be  seen  how  much  of  the  original 
stone  it  was  necessary  to  remove  in  order  to  produce  the  slender,  con 
ical  head  of  the  specimen  represented.  To  accomplish  it  by  pec-king 
away  the  surface,  several  of  these  small  hammers  were  probably  re- 

(423) 


424 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


quired,  as  their  value  for  such  purpose  apparently  decreases  in  propor 
tion  as  their  surfaces  become  battered. 

The  associated  objects  referred  to,  called  "rubbing-stones,"  are  sup 
posed  to  have  been  used  in  rubbing  or  smoothing  the  slightly  rough 
surfaces  which  remained  after  pecking,  and  also  in  grinding  and  polish 
ing  the  edge  and  adjacent  sides  of  the  blade  of  the  implement. 

Fig.  398  represents  a  pretty  little  hand-hammer,  made  from  a  small 
cylindrical  quartzite  pebble.  The  sides  retain  their  natural  surface, 
but  the  ends  are  much  battered. 

Specimens  of  this  simple  pattern  are  not  as  widely  distributed  as 

might  be  supposed.  In  many  localities, 
where  other  implements  are  in  great 
abundance,  these  simple  objects  are 
often  entirely  absent ;  while,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  writer  has  frequently  gathered 
a  hundred  or  more  specimens  on  a 
single  village  site. 

These  implements  vary  much  in  size, 
many  being  fully  five  and  six  times  as 
large  as  the  one  here  figured.  The 
weight  also  varies,  but  not  always  in 
proportion  to  the  size  ;  as  many  of  the 
smaller  ones  are  of  such  compact  min 
eral,  that  they  equal  in  weight  others  of  more  than  double  the  size. 
None  are  found,  however,  which  cannot  readily  be  used  with  one 
hand.  The  battered  condition  of  the  entire  surface  of  some  of  them 
cannot  readily  be  explained,  as  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  the  sides  of 
small  cylindrical  pebbles  could  have  been  used  for  pecking  the  sur 
faces  of  other  stones  ;  but  our  knowledge  of  the  processes  by  which 
the  Indian  fashioned  his  stone  implements  does  not  always  justify  us 
in  forming  or  rejecting  conclusions,  on  the  subject.  Hand-hammers 
with  the  entire  surface  battered  from  usage  are,  however,  but  seldom 
met  with,  in  comparison  with  those  in  which  only  the  ends  show  the 
effect  of  use. 


FIG.  398.  — New  Jersey. 


HAND-HAMMERS   AND    RUBBING    STONES. 


425 


Fig.  399  represents  another  form  of  hammer-stone  which  is  of  com 
mon  occurrence  not  only  along  the  Atlantic  seaboard,  but  in  Europe. 
These  hand-hammers,  as  they  are  called,  are  usually  flat  pebbles,  cir 
cular  or  oval  in  shape,  with  a  well-marked  depression  in  the  middle  of 
each  side,  generally  known  as  "  thumb  and  finger  pits."  Many  of  these 
have  no  trace  of  battering  about  the  edges,  nor  other  marks  of  hard 
usage,  while  others  distinctly  show  traces  of  use  as  hammers.  Fig. 
399  represents  a  specimen  of  these  finger-pitted  hand-hammers  frcm 
the  valley  of  the  Susquehanna.  The  material  is  "  a  tolerably  hard  stone, 


FIG.  399-  —  Pennsylvania,    -j. 

consisting  of  rounded  quartz  grains,  apparently  a  metamorphic  quartz 
or  quartzite."  In  a  large  series  of  these  implements,  the  size  varied 
from  five  to  less  than  three  inches  in  diameter ;  and  the  weight,  from 
one  pound  and  ten  ounces  to  half  a  pound.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that 
of  the  hundreds  of  these  objects  collected  in  various  localities,  partic 
ularly  along  the  Delaware  river,  but  very  few  reach  the  maximum 
weight  of  those  found  in  the  valley  of  the  Susquehanna.  In  New 
Jersey,  the  heaviest  specimens  are  all  of  irregular  shape,  and  are  but 
seldom  even  comparatively  flat  and  thin.  It  would  not,  however,  be 


420 


PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 


safe  to  infer  from  this  fact  alone,  that  the  larger  examples  were  used 
for  some  other  purpose  than  the  one  mentioned,  as  the  battered  con 
dition  of  the  edges  shows  that  they  had  been  subjected  to  violence 
that  could  scarcely  have  proceeded  from  any  other  cause,  than  violent 
contact  with  some  material  equally  hard  or  harder. 

Fig.  400  represents  a  second  specimen  differing  only  from  the  pre 
ceding  in  being  of  much  smaller  size.  This  specimen  was  found  on 
the  banks  of  the  Delaware  river,  and,  like  that  from  the  Susquehanna 


FIG.  400.  —  New  Jersey.     -\. 

valley,  may  safely  be  considered  as  the  handiwork  of  the  Lenni  Lenape 
or  Delaware  Indians. 

For  whatever  purpose  this  specimen  may  have  been  intended,  it  is 
evident  that  it  has  been  but  little  used,  and  was  never  subjected  to  any 
such  violence  as  is  implied  in  the  word  "hammer."  As  will  be  seen 
by  reference  to  the  illustration,  this  hammer  is  nearly  circular  in  out 
line,  and  though  not  polished,  its  entire  surface  is  very  smooth.  The 
lateral  depressions  or  finger  pits  have  been  drilled  instead  of  pecked, 
and  are  now  very  smooth.  As  this  specimen  is  so  nearly  accurate  in 


HAND-HAMMERS    AND    RUBBING    STONES. 


427 


outline,  and  free  from  blemish  of  every  kind,  it  led  the  writer170  to 
believe  that  it  had  been  probably  used  as  a  "  chungke  stone,"  as  they 
are  usually  called.  The  absence  of  a  flattened  margin,  however,  and 
the  fact  that  specimens  of  typical  discoidal  stones  have  been  found  in 
New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania,  render  it  quite  doubtful,  whether  it 
should  be  classed  with  this  characteristic  implement  of  the  southern 
and  western  Indians. 

It  appears  from  the  verbal  accounts  of  several  collectors,  that  occa 
sionally  stone  hammers  of  this  pattern   have  been  found  in  Indian 
graves.     If  it  could  be  ascer 
tained  that  in  all  that  are  so 
found  there  are  no  traces  of 
use  as  hammers,  it  would  in 
dicate  that  they  were  intended 
for  some  other  purpose.    This 
is  not  improbable. 

Fig.  401  represents  a  pitted 
hand-hammer  which  is  so 
battered  along  one  portion  of 
the  margin,  that  it  is  quite 
evident  that  it  has  been  used 
for  hammering  stone  or  some 
other  equally  hard  material. 
The  battered  and  badly 
broken  condition  of  so  many 
of  these  objects  is  generally  considered  as  an  indication  that  one  of 
their  chief  uses  was  to  break  off  the  flakes  of  jasper,  that  were  sub 
sequently  worked  into  spears  and  arrowpoints.  Not  only  is  this  ap 
parent  from  their  battered  surfaces,  but  hammers  of  this  pattern  are 
found  in  numbers  mingled  with  the  chips,  cores  and  discarded  speci 
mens  that  are  found  in  such  profusion  in  many  localities,  and  mark 
the  sites  of  "  open-air  workshops."  In  a  subsequent  chapter,  refer- 


FIG.  401.  —  New  Jersey.    -|-. 


170Abbott.     Smithsonian  Annual  Rep.  for  1875,  p.  366,  fig.  209. 


428  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

ence  will  be  made  to  a  series  of  these  hammers  found  associated 
with  the  refuse  of  a  long  occupied  workshop.  The  late  Prof.  Hal- 
deman171  refers  to  them  in  his  description  of  the  contents  of  a 
rock-shelter  discovered  by  himself,  at  Chickies  Rock,  Lancaster  Co., 
Pennsylvania.  He  says,  "y  compris  les  pierres  rondes  provenant  du 
gravier  de  la  riviere,  et  non  seulement  les  marteaux  ou  percuteurs 
portant  d'un  cote  ou  de  deux  une  depression  artificielle  destinee  a 
loger  le  pouce  et  les  doights,  marteaux  dont  les  bords  ont  ete  brises 
par  1'usage,  mais  encore  les  specimens  exempts  de  toute  marque 
artificielle  et  paraissant  avoir  ete  colliges  en  vue  d'un  emploi  ulterieur." 
The  other  contents  of  this  shelter  were  of  such  a  character,  that  it 
fully  justifies  the  conclusion  of  the  author  quoted,  that  "1'abri  semble 
avoir  etc  occupe  par  une  succession  de  fabricants  de  fleches." 

The  jasper  cores,  to  which  reference  has  been  made,  are  bowlders 
of  this  mineral,  from  which  have  been  detached  pieces  suitable  for 
making  arrowpoints.  These  detached  pieces  or  flakes  are  sometimes 
six  or  eight  inches  in  length ;  and  a  large  number  of  these  were  fre 
quently  obtained  from  one  bowlder.  A  hammer  of  some  kind  must 
necessarily  have  been  used  for  detaching  these  flakes,  and  the  fact  of 
the  cores  and  these  finger-pitted  hammers  being  found  together,  as 
described  by  the  late  Prof.  Haldeman,  renders  it  quite  evident  that  the 
small  hammers,  such  as  fig.  401,  were  largely  used  for  this  purpose. 

Occasionally  there  are  found  specimens  of  these  hammers  made  of 
a  soft  sandstone,  which  would  of  course  be  valueless  for  flaking  jasper. 
The  object  of  these  is  difficult  to  determine,  as  they  are  too  small  and 
friable  for  use,  even  as  nut-crackers ;  and  indeed,  their  shape  is  not 
fitted  for  this  or  any  ordinary  purpose.  It  is  possible  that  they  may 
have  undergone  material  decomposition  since  used  as  hammers  •  but 
if  so,  then  these  soft  specimens  must  be  of  very  ancient  date,  and  thus 
furnish  evidence  of  the  antiquity  of  the  Indian  on  the  Atlantic  coast. 

It  is  of  course  probable  that,  to  a  considerable    extent,  all  these 


171Congres  des  Americanistes:  Luxembourg  Session,  1877.     Tome  Second.     Un  Abri  en  Pen- 
sylvanie:   S.  S.  Haldeman,  p.  324. 


HAND-HAMMERS   AND    RUBBING   STONES. 


429 


hammers  with  pitted  sides  were  used  for  pecking  stone  implements,  as 
was  suggested  of  fig.  398.  But  to  determine  the  particular  purpose  of 
any  or  all  hammer-stones  is  a  task  as  vain  as  it  is  unnecessary. 

Fig.  402  represents  an  implement  in  which  the  edges,  or  a  portion  of 
them,  have  been  worn  away  by  rubbing,  instead  of  having  been  chipped 
or  splintered  by  hammering.  Implements  like  this  are  as  evidently 
rubbing  or  grinding  stones,  as  those  that  are  battered  are  hammers,  and 


FIG.  402.  — New  Jersey.     \. 

they  have  been  used  in  polishing  the  beautifully  finished  celts,  which 
are  almost  as  abundant  as  these  supposed  tools,  wherewith  in  part 
they  were  made.  These  rubbing  stones  are  of  all  shapes,  and  are 
about  equally  divided  between  those  that  have  the  finger-pit  depres 
sions,  and  those  in  which  the  natural  surface  of  the  pebble,  on  the 
sides,  is  still  retained.  They  are  usually  of  a  finely  grained  sandstone, 
but  not  always.  A  few  specimens  of  jasper  and  other  equally  hard 
stone  are  also  found.  In  New  Jersey,  these  rubbing  stones  are  found 


43° 


PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 


in  abundance  on  the  former  sites  of  Indian  villages,  but  they  are  not 
so  frequently  met  with  singly. 

An  exhaustive  examination  of  a  limited  locality  near  Trenton,  N.  J., 
known  to  have  been  formerly  a  village  site  of  the  Delaware  Indians, 
resulted  in  the  discovery  of  a  number  of  these  implements,  having  both 
a  worn  and  a  battered  edge,  as  though  used  for  hammering  as  well  as 
rubbing.  If  these  specimens  were  really  used  in  both  ways,  the  ham 
mer  portion  was  doubtlessly  used  in  pecking  implements  like  celts, 
axes,  pestles  and  many  of  the  carved  ceremonial  and  ornamental  stones, 

which  were  shaped  by 
this  process,  before  be 
ing  polished.  It  is  not 
improbable,  however, 
that  a  hammer,  like  fig. 
401,  may  have  been 
subsequently  used  as  a 
polishing  or  rubbing 
stone,  and  vice  versa. 

Fig.  403  differs  from 
the  preceding  in  that  its 
entire  margin  has  been 
wrorn  away  by  rubbing 
against  other  stones. 
The  finger  pits  in  it  are 
deep  and  smooth.  Specimens  with  so  little  of  the  natural  surface  of 
the  pebble  remaining  are  not  as  abundant  as  those  irregularly  shaped 
pebbles  in  which  limited  portions  of  the  periphery  only  are  worn.  It 
would  appear  from  this,  that  in  most  cases,  these  rubbing  stones  were 
used  for  a  short  time  and  then  discarded,  as  very  many  are  found  with 
but  a  single  worn  surface,  and  that  of  very  limited  extent.  Those  that 
have  been  least  worn  by  use  are,  as  a  rule,  of  quartz,  jasper  or  chert, 
materials  that  are  not  so  well  adapted  for  polishing  purposes,  as  is  a 
sandstone  of  fine  grain. 

Fig.  404  represents  a  second   specimen  of  these  rubbing  stones, 


FIG.  403.  —  New  Jersey. 


HAND-HAMMERS   AND    RUBBING    STONES. 


431 


which  is  even  more  worn  than  the  preceding.  It  is  a  quartzite  pebble 
that  has  been  altered  in  shape,  by  rubbing,  until  every  vestige  of  the 
natural  surface  has  been  removed.  In  it  the  finger  pits  have  been 
pecked  out,  and  subsequently  worn  smooth.  They  are  of  unusual  size 
and  depth.  In  outline,  this  rubbing  stone  is  more  irregular  than  fig. 
403,  and  has  one  obtuse  point  on  the  margin.  This  blunt  point  is 
quite  a  common  feature,  not  only  in  those  specimens  which  are  worn 
entirely  around  the  edge,  but  in  those  which  are  large,  angular,  and 
worn  only  over  a  limited  extent.  The  point  is  simply  the  result  of  the 
continual  wearing  off  of 
adjoining  portions  of 
the  margin  of  the  stone, 
and  has  not  itself  been 
used  as  a  rubbing  sur 
face. 

These  rubbing  stones 
vary  indefinitely  in 
thickness,  and  many  are 
almost  globular  in 
shape.  Indeed,  it  is 
difficult  to  draw  a  line  of 
demarcation  between 
them  and  those  small  ar 
tificial  globes  of  jasper 
and  quartz  which  are  occasionally  met  with.  These  latter  are  seldom 
so  smooth  as  to  warrant  the  belief  that  they  were  rubbing  stones  ;  they 
rather  appear  to  have  been  pecked  to  a  truly  globular  form  and  sub 
sequently  worn  smooth  by  constant  handling. 

Fig.  405  represents  a  pattern  of  rubbing  stone  that  differs  in  one 
important  particular  from  those  already  described.  Instead  of  being 
worn  along  the  edge,  this  portion  is  only  smoothed  so  far  as  this  may 
be  effected  by  constant  handling,  while  the  sides  are  worn  down  until 
they  are  perfectly  level,  and  highly  polished.  In  this  respect,  this  speci 
men  closely  resembles  the  upper  millstones  already  described. 


FIG.  404.  —  New  Jersey.    \. 


432 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


Rubbing  stones  of  this  pattern  are  far  less  common  than  the  preced 
ing,  and  were  probably  used  for  some  one  purpose  not  now  determi- 
nable.  For  polishing  the  curved  surfaces  of  celts  and  cylindrical 
implements  generally,  they  are  not  as  well  adapted  as  are  those  like  figs. 
402  and  403  ;  nor  is  it  probable  that  so  large  a  pebble  was  used  as  a 
pottery  polisher. 

Fig.  406  represents  a  second  example  of  this  form  of  rubbing  stone, 
which,  like  the  preceding,  has  had  the  sides  worn  down  until  they  are 
very  smooth  and  even  polished.  Unlike  fig.  405,  however,  this  speci- 


FIG.  405.  — New  Jersey.    {• 

men  has  the  margin  badly  battered,  and  thus  gives  evidence  of  having 
been  used  as  a  hand-hammer.  A  small  portion  of  the  margin  is 
somewhat  smooth  and  shows  that  it  has  been  pecked.  It  is  therefore 
probable  that,  when  first  in  use,  this  rubbing  stone  had  a  pecked  mar 
gin,  as  in  fig.  405,  which  was  afterwards  destroyed  by  the  use  of  the 
implement  as  a  hammer. 

It  is  perhaps  questionable  whether  these  implements  were  the  only 
tools  in  use  among  the   Indians,  for  polishing  stone,  from  the  fact  that 


HAND-HAMMERS   AND    RUBBING   STONES.  433 

in  many  localities,  where  objects  of  stone  of  various  patterns  are  abun 
dant,  there  is  often  a  total  want  of  these  rubbing  stones ;  and  this  is 
true  not  only  of  New  Jersey,  but  of  the  other  Atlantic  coast  states. 
To  a  certain  extent  they  may,  of  course,  have  been  overlooked,  but 
this  will  scarcely  explain  their  absence,  as  proved  by  careful  search 
instituted  particularly  for  them.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  difficult  to 
explain  the  remarkable  abundance  of  these  objects  in  such  a  limited 
locality  as  a  single  township  in  Mercer  Co.,  New  Jersey. 

The  foregoing  examples  show  how  indefinitely  these  small  hand- 


FiG.  406.  —  New  Jersey, 


hammers  and  rubbing  stones  vary.  In  fig.  407,  we  have  represented 
another  form  of  rubbing  stone,  which  shows  many  traces  of  having 
been  long  in  use,  but  precisely  in  what  manner,  or  for  what  purpose, 
is  not  altogether  clear.  Judging  from  the  more  marked  features  of  the 
specimens  gathered,  of  which  fig.  407  is  an  average  example,  this  pat 
tern  of  these  implements  should  be  called  a  "sharpening"  rather  than 
a  "  rubbing"  stone,  as  the  character  of  the  worn  surfaces  appears  to 
be  such  as  would  be  produced  in  the  process  of  making  and  subse- 
28 


434 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY, 


quently  sharpening  the  cutting  edges  of  celts  and  axes.  This  would  not 
explain  some  of  the  deep  and  wide  grooves,  worn  obliquely  across  the 
margins  of  many  of  these  specimens,  nor  would  it  account  for  certain 
other  features  found  in  many  examples,  otherwise  identical  with  fig. 
407  •  but  the  examination  of  a  very  large  series  leads  me  to  infer  that 

the  principal  use  of  these 
irregularly  worn  rubbing 
stones  was  to  give  a  cut 
ting  edge  to  the  celts 
and  axes  —  a  sort  of  fin 
ishing  tool,  used  only 
after  the  body  of  the  im 
plement  had  been  shaped 
and  smoothed.  This, 
however,  it  must  be  borne 
in  mind,  is  wholly  con 
jectural. 

Originally  an  oval,  flat 
pebble,  this  specimen, 
fig.  407,  has  been  used 
as  a  rubbing  or  sharpen 
ing  stone,  until  the  out 
lines  are  wholly  altered. 
The  straighter  portions  of 
the  two  sides  have  been 
ground  off  until  they 
meet  in  a  point.  The 
slope  of  these  worn  edges 

shows  that  the  motion  of  rubbing  was  always  in  one  and  the  same 
direction, —  in  this  case,  from  left  to  right.  In  this,  as  in  nearly  all  the 
specimens  collected,  the  base  is  rounded  in  outline,  and  has  a  number 
of  small,  worn  surfaces  of  different  shapes  and  characters.  Some  are 
flat  and  circular,  while  others  run  into  broad  and  shallow  notches. 
There  are  also  a  few  narrow  and  deep  notches  of  the  same  character 


FIG.  407.  —  New  Jersey. 


HAND- HAMMERS  AND   RUBBING  STONES.  435 

as  those  on  the  so-called  sinew-dressers,  described  in  a  preceding 
chapter.  These  may  indicate  that  specimens  like  fig.  407  were  used 
for  several  purposes ;  as  it  is  very  doubtful  whether  the  edges  of 
polished  celts  could  be  smoothed  or  sharpened  by  being  drawn  through 
deep  grooves,  such  as  are  seen  on  this  specimen.  This,  however,  is 
the  prevalent  impression,  though  it  is  probably  erroneous. 

This  form  of  rubbing  or  sharpening  stone,  like  the  preceding,  is 
common  in  the  neighborhood  of  Trenton,  N.  J.,  but  it  does  not  seem 
to  be  very  well  known  elsewhere.  In  the  collections  of  New  Eng 
land  forms  of  stone  implements,  in  the  Museum  of  Archaeology  at 
Cambridge,  Mass.,  there  is  not  a  specimen  that  can  be  classed  with 
them,  nor  are  they  mentioned  by  collectors  of  stone  implements  in 
the  western  and  southern  states.  To  a  certain  extent  they  may  have 
been  overlooked,  but  it  is  improbable  that  so  marked  an  object  as  fig. 
407  should  not  have  been  noticed  and  preserved.  That  they  are 
probably  comparatively  scarce  in  most  localities  is  inferred  from  the 
fact  that  in  several  large  collections  of  Pennsylvanian  and  northern  New 
Jersey  stone  implements,  not  a  single  specimen  of  these  greatly  worn 
sharpening  stones  is  to  be  found.  Possibly  of  this  same  character,  are 
the  "  small  pieces  of  grit-stone,  almost  the  size  of  a  hen's  egg,  with 
deep  grooves  on  all  sides,"  which  Dr.  Potter  has  mentioned  as  among 
the  relics  of  the  moundbuilders  of  Missouri.  That  author  believes 
these  objects  to  have  been  used  for  sharpening  knives  of  bone  and 
deer's  horn.  (Contributions  to  the  Archaeology  of  Missouri :  pt.  i, 
Pottery,  p.  19,  Salem,  Mass.,  1880). 

Besides  the  several  forms  of  hammers  for  flaking  stone,  for  "pecking" 
it  into  shape,  for  rubbing  down  implements  until  their  surfaces  were 
polished,  and  for  grinding,  to  a  sharp  cutting  edge,  the  celts,  chisels 
and  axes,  there  are  often  found  long,  cylindrical  pebbles,  which  have 
been  used  as  whetstones,  for  sharpening  the  cutting  tools  of  the 
Indians. 

Stones  of  this  character  appear  to  be  abundant  wherever  polished 
stone  implements  are  found.  In  many,  there  are  several  worn  surfaces, 
as  in  fig.  408  ;  while  in  others,  there  is  but  one.  When  but  a  single 


436  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

worn  surface  is  upon  one  of  these  whetstones,  it  is  usually  of  such  large 
area,  that  it  may  have  been  used  for  other  purposes  than  for  sharp 
ening  stone  cutting-tools.  Fig.  409  represents  an  example  of  this 
form.  This  specimen  is  of  convenient  form  for  grinding  bone  im- 


FIG.  408.  —  New  Jersey.     5.  FlG.  409. — New  Jeisey.     $. 

plements,  for  rounding  fragments  of  steatite  for  beads,  and  for  many 
similar  purposes.  A  very  fine  grained  slate  was  generally  chosen  for 
this  class  of  implements,  and  usually  they  were  so  well  selected,  that 
when  they  are  now  found,  they  are  carefully  preserved  for  sharpening 
metallic  tools. 


CHAPTER    XXX, 


SHELL-HEAPS* 


SACO  BAY. 

So  extensive  has  become  the  literature  treating  of  those  artificial 
accumulations  of  shells,  and  bones  of  animals  used  for  food,  that  but 
little  can  be  said  that  will  not  appear  to  be  a  repetition  of  the  pub 
lished  accounts  of  various  archaeologists. 

The  term  "shell-heap"  has  generally  been  applied  to  these  traces 
of  the  earliest  occupants  of  our  coast,  not  because  they  are  exclusively 
what  this  name  implies,  but  from  the  fact  that  the  shells  of  different 
edible  mollusks  are  the  principal  or  characteristic  feature  of  the  accu 
mulations.  The  term  "kitchen-middens,  or  "kjoekkenmceddings," 
has  also  been  used,  especially  in  Europe,  and  is  admirably  descriptive 
of  those  that  occur  in  northern  Europe,  and  in  the  New  England 
states.  This  term  implies  the  accumulations  not  only  of  shells,  but 
also  of  the  bones  of  fishes,  birds,  and  mammals  used  as  food.  Through 
out  this  mass  are  scattered  the  implements  of  stone,  bone  and  clay, 
which  were  made  and  used  by  the  people  who  dwelt  upon  this  ever- 

(437) 


43  8  PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 

increasing  pile  of  refuse  from  their  daily  repasts.  In  New  Jersey, 
however,  there  are  to  be  found  not  only  such  kitchen-middens,  which 
are  in  fact,  village  sites,  but  there  are  also  shell-heaps  proper,  or  the 
accumulations  of  shells  made  at  various  points  where,  periodically, 
during  centuries,  different  mollusks  were  gathered  in  vast  quantities, 
and  preserved  by  drying  over  a  fire. 

Kalm  (Travels  in  North  America,  vol.  i,  p.  240,  1771)  refers  to 
heaps  of  shells  near  New  York,  made  by  resident  Indians,  who  fished 
for  oysters  and  other  mollusks,  not  only  as  a  food  supply,  but  for  sale. 
He  says,  "The  Indians,  who  inhabited  the  coast  before  the  arrival  of 
the  Europeans,  have  made  oysters  and  other  shell-fish  their  chief  food  ; 
and  at  present,  whenever  they  come  to  a  salt  water  where  oysters  are 
to  be  got,  they  are  very  active  in  catching  them,  and  sell  them  in  great 
quantities  to  other  Indians  who  live  higher  up  the  country:  for  this 
reason  you  see  immense  numbers  of  oyster  and  muscle  shells  piled  up 
near  such  places,  where  you  are  certain  that  the  Indians  formerly 
built  their  huts."  Such  heaps  contain  neither  implements  nor  pottery, 
nor  bones  of  any  mammals,  fishes  or  birds  ;  and,  except  for  their  size 
and  present  position  with  reference  to  the  sea  level,  offer  but  little 
attraction  to  the  archaeologist. 

In  none  of  the  shell-heaps  of  the  northern  Atlantic  coast  have  we 
any  evidence  of  that  succession  of  deposits  of  different  remains,  such 
as  has  been  so  graphically  described  by  Major  W.  H.  Dall,172  as 
occurring  on  the  Aleutian  Islands.  This  archaeologist  has  determined 
that  in  these  islands,  "the  stratification  of  the  shell-heaps  shows  a 
tolerably  uniform  division  into  three  stages,  characterized  by  the  food 
which  formed  their  staple  of  subsistence  and  by  the  weapons  for  obtain 
ing,  and  utensils  for  preparing  this  food,  as  found  in  the  separate  strata  ; 
these  stages  being  — 

I.  The  Littoral  Period,  represented  by  the  Echinus  Layer. 

II.  The  Fishing  Period,  represented  by  the  Fish-bone  Layer. 


172Dall.     Tribes  of  extreme  Northwest,  p.  49.     Contributions  to  N.  A.  Ethnology,  vol.  i,  Wash 
ington,  1879. 


SHELL-HEAPS.  439 

III.  The  Hunting  Period,  represented  by  the  Mammalian  Layer." 
Somewhat  analogous  to  this  is  the  evidence  of  the  succession  of  the 
shell-heaps  in  Florida,  as  determined  by  the  late  Prof.  Wyman,173  who 
mentions  as  one  of  the  ten  "conclusions"  that  close  his  invaluable 
monograph,  that  "fragments  of  pottery  exist  in  the  later  but  not  in  the 
oldest  mounds.  The  pottery  was  in  all  cases  of  a  rude  kind." 

Marine  shell-heaps  are  still  abundant  along  the  entire  Atlantic  coast 
from  the  Bay  of  Fundy  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Some  of  the  largest 
are  at  Cape  Henlopen,  Delaware  ;174  along  the  greater  part  of  the 
New  Jersey  coast,  from  Cape  May175  to  Keyport;176  on  Long  Is 
land,177  and  along  the  coasts  of  Maine  and  Massachusetts.178 

The  shell- heaps  on  Long  Island  are  probably  more  extensive  and 
more  numerous  than  elsewhere  along  the  coast,  southward  of  Massa 
chusetts.  These  heaps  are  all  true  kitchen-middens,  and  contain  bones 
of  birds  and  mammals,  implements  and  pottery  mixed  with  the  shells. 
Mr.  W.  W.  Tooker  of  Sag  Harbor,  Long  Island,  has  kindly  furnished 
me  with  the  following  descriptive  note  of  one  of  these  heaps,  which 
may  be  considered  as  fairly  representative  of  the  whole  series. 

"West  of  the  Otter  Pond  is  a  shell-heap  of  considerable  extent,  that 
covers  nearly  three  acres.  On  its  surface  have  been  found  hundreds 
of  arrowpoihts.  Part  of  this  deposit  is  still  hidden  under  the  leaves 
and  soil  of  the  woods  and  has  never  been  disturbed.  Along  the  cove 
beyond,  for  a  distance  of  about  one  mile  and  a  half,  is  one  almost 
continuous  shell-heap.  It  is  thicker  at  some  places  than  at  others. 
Back  on  the  southern  slopes  of  the  hills,  near  swamps  and  springs,  are 
others,  some  being  an  acre  in  area.  At  Payne's  Creek,  there  is  found 
one  of  the  largest  and  most  compact  shell-mounds  on  this  part  of 
Long  Island.  At  the  time  the  shells  were  deposited,  the  creek  evi- 


173\Vyman.     Fresh-water  shell-mounds  of  Florida,  p.  86.     Salem,  Mass.,  1875. 
174Leidy.     Proceedings  of  the  Academy  of  Nat.  Sciences  for  1866.     Philadelphia,  Pa. 
175Cook.     Geology  of  New  Jersey,  p.  362.     Newark,  New  Jersey,  1868. 
176Rau.     Smithsonian  Annual  Report  for  1864,  p.  370.     Washington,  1865. 
177Elias  Lewis,  jr.     Popular  Science  Monthly,  vol.  x,  p.  436.     New  York,  1877. 
l7s\Vyman.     American  Naturalist,  vol.  i,  p.  561.     Salem,  Mass.,  1868. 


440  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

dently  flowed  in  front  of  the  deposit,  but  now  it  is  filled  up  and  a 
sandy  country  road  extends  along  its  front.  This  deposit  covers  about 
three  acres,  and  is  fully  four  feet  in  depth.  In  some  spots  on  this 
shell-heap,  are  remains  only  of  the  oyster ;  in  another,  of  the  clam ; 
and  a  third  of  the  scallops,  and  then  the  various  shells  will  be  found 
to  be  about  equally  abundant,  and  mingled  together.  In  this  deposit 
have  been  found  bones  of  the  raccoon,  bear,  otter,  fox,  deer,  and 
rabbit.  Almost  all  the  stone  implements  used  by  the  natives  have  been 
found  in  this  shell-heap.  Also  awls  or  pointed  instruments  of  bone, 
and  one  large  bone  fish-hook  (chap.  XV,  fig.  193).  Fragments  of 
their  pottery,  made  of  pounded  shells,  clay  and  sand,  are  seen  strewn 
in  every  direction." 

Fresh-water  shell-heaps  are  also  of  common  occurrence  in  the  val 
leys  of  those  rivers  in  which  the  larger  Unios  or  mussels  live.  These 
inland  kitchen-middens  do  not  differ  materially  from  those  found  upon 
the  seacoast,  except  that,  generally,  they  are  much  more  limited  in 
extent,  especially  in  the  New  England  and  Middle  States.  In  the 
latter  locality,  indeed,  they  are  quite  insignificant  in  comparison  with 
the  deposits  of  oyster  and  quahaug  shells  at  Beesley's  Point,  Cape  May 
Co.,  and  at  Tuckerton,  Burlington  Co.,  New  Jersey.  Prof.  Wyman179 
has  described  an  extensive  shell-mound  on  the  shore  of  the  Concord 
river,  in  Massachusetts,  made  up  of  valves  of  the  Unio  complanatus, 
a  species  still  existing  in  that  river.  Charcoal  and  stone  and  bone  imple 
ments  were  found  in  this  deposit.  A  small  Unio  shell-heap  formerly 
existed  on  the  shore  of  the  Delaware  river,  at  the  mouth  of  Cross- 
wick's  Creek,  in  Burlington  Co.,  New  Jersey,  which  was  composed  of 
valves  of  several  species  of  Unionidae  ;  Anodonta  purpurea,  and  Unio 
viridis  being  most  numerously  represented.  A  few  chipped  stone 
implements  were  found  in  it.  The  building  of  the  Delaware  and 
Raritan  Canal  obliterated  this  deposit. 

A  second  and  much  smaller  mussel  shell-heap,  on  the  banks  of 
Crosswick's  Creek,  four  miles  from  its  mouth,  approached  most  nearly 


179Wyman.     Proceedings,  Boston  Society  of  Nat.  History,  vol.  ix,  p.  243.     Boston,  Mass. 


SHELL-HEAPS.  44! 

the  Danish  kjcekkenmoeddings.  Within  a  few  square  yards,  there 
was  a  layer  of  Unio  shells  and  charcoal,  with  a  few  fish  and  bird  bones, 
nearly  two  feet  in  thickness.  In  this  mass  were  several  strata  of  fine 
sand  and  mud,  which  suggested  that  it  had  been  several  times  aban 
doned  and  subsequently  re-occupied.  In  it  were  found  a  small  port 
able  mortar  and  an  oval  "crusher"  or  upper  millstone,  a  score  of 
leaf-shaped  arrowpoints  of  large  size  —  possibly  knives  —  two  rude 
axes,  and  two  remarkable  "flame-shaped"  or  zigzag  chipped  imple 
ments,  which  were  supposed  to  be  spearpoints.  These  specimens, 
unfortunately,  were  lost  or  stolen,  but  drawings  were  published  in 
Nature,  London,  vol.  xi,  p.  190.  The  larger  one,  measuring  five  inches 
in  length,  was  too  delicate  to  have  been  used  as  a  weapon,  and  doubtless 
was  used  only  upon  ceremonial  occasions.  Whatever  its  purpose,  its 
pressure  in  a  shell-heap  was  remarkable.  No  duplicates,  nor  indeed 
any  crooked  arrowheads,  approaching  these  unique  forms,  have  since 
been  found. 

Peter  Kalm,  the  Swede,  to  whom  I  have  so  frequently  referred, 
mentions  that  in  southern  New  Jersey  " Mytilu s  anatinus  (Unio),  a 
kind  of  mussel-shell,  was  found  abundantly  in  little  furrows,  which 
crossed  the  meadows.  The  shells  were  frequently  covered  on  the 
outside  with  a  thin  crust  of  particles  of  iron,  when  the  water  in  the 
furrows  came  from  an  iron  mine.  The  Englishmen  and  Swedes  settled 
here  seldom  made  any  use  of  these  shells  ;  but  the  Indians  who  for 
merly  lived  here  broiled  them  and  ate  the  flesh" 

In  a  recent  letter  from  Mr.  Ernest  Ingersoll,  who  is  known  to  archae 
ologists  in  connection  with  the  early  discoveries  of  the  now  famous 
cliff-ruins  of  the  far  southwest,  I  am  furnished  with  an  account  of  some 
inland  shell-heaps  in  central  New  York.  Mr.  Ingersoll  writes  : 

"I  heard  of  several  shell-heaps  along  this  part  of  the  Susquehanna, 
but  during  my  brief  stay  had  only  opportunity  to  examine  one  person 
ally.  This  was  on  the  high  northern  bank  of  the  river,  just  in  the 
outskirts  of  the  village  of  Owego,  Tioga  county,  N.  Y.,  and  had 
previously  been  much  disturbed.  Tradition  says  it  was  once  a  hun 
dred  yards  or  more  in  length,  along  the  edge  of  the  bluff.  These 


442  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

dimensions  had  been  vastly  reduced,  but  enough  remained  to  give  me 
a  day's  labor.  The  shells  were  from  a  few  inches  to  about  two  feet  in 
depth  and  without  intermixture  of  dirt,  which  only  slightly  covered  the 
whole.  They  were  all  of  the  two  or  three  species  of  Unio  and  Anodon 
which  inhabit  the  river  there,  and  the  exterior  coat  of  every  shell  had 
disappeared.  Many  of  the  shells  could  be  taken  out  entire,  but  re 
quired  handling  with  extreme  care  to  be  preserved.  A  few  land  shells 
(Helix]  were  also  seen,  but  they  may  have  crawled  there  and  died ; 
that  is,  I  would  not  care  to  assume  they  were  eaten  by  the  Indians. 
Associated  with  the  shells  was  very  little  of  value.  Evidences  of  fire 
occurred  in  the  shape  of  blackened  strata,  cinders  and  calcined  shells. 
Pebbles  occasionally  were  found ;  but  the  only  stone  implements  dis 
closed  was  one  hammer-stone,  three  netsinkers  and  a  possible  awl  or 
drill  of  argillite.  Fragments  of  bones  of  fishes,  birds  and  chiefly 
deer,  were  abundant,  however,  scattered  through  the  mass.  All  of 
these  fragments,  except  the  joint-ends  (which  were  broken  short  off), 
were  split, —  I  suppose  for  the  marrow, — and  were  of  small  size.  Upon 
one  of  these  pieces  of  bone,  which  was  about  two  inches  long  and 
half  an  inch  wide,  with  smooth  edges,  a  series  of  transverse  notches 
had  been  cut,  as  though  to  tally  some  score  or  series  of  events. 

"This  locality,  where  the  Owego — or  Ah-wa-ga — creek  empties 
into  the  Susquehanna,  was  a  warm  and  fertile  valley  much  in  favor 
with  the  Indians  who  had  a  permanent  village  here.  Many  local  tra 
ditions  and  memories  remain  of  their  occupancy.  They  are  asserted 
to  have  been  a  band  of  Massachusetts  Indians  who  retreated  to  this 
region  and  procured,  from  the  Iroquois  tribes  who  held  it,  permission 
to  settle.  I  have  not  investigated  the  truth  of  this  statement.  In  the 
centre  of  the  present  town  was  the  Indian  graveyard,  tradition  asserts, 
and  the  whole  region  abounds  in  stone  relics,  which  in  large  number 
and  variety  have  been  saved  by  half  a  dozen  persons  interested  in  the 
matter,  throughout  the  county.  During  a  visit  of  some  weeks,  I  col 
lected  as  many  stone  implements  as  possible. 

"Flint  and  slate  'chips'  are  extremely  abundant  all  along  the  river- 
bank  and  throughout  the  valley ;  a  good  deal  of  jasper  also  occurs, 


SHELL-HEAPS.  443 

and  I  found  one  large  'core'  of  this  substance,  which  is  all  imported. 
The  arrowheads  found  are  of  various  shapes  ;  rude,  unsymmetrical 
forms  predominating.  I  found  no  large  spearheads,  but  heard  of  a 
cache  of  thirty  or  more  planted  close  together  and  upright,  which  were 
ploughed  up  some  years  ago ;  what  became  of  them,  I  failed  to  learn. 
Hammer-stones,  some  of  them  elaborate,  I  found  very  common,  and 
as  for  netsinkers,  of  all  sizes,  shapes  and  degrees  of  value,  they  were 
almost  innumerable.  Evidently  these  Indians  (who  no  doubt  antedate 
the  occupancy  of  the  Massachusetts  strangers)  were  great  fish  eaters. 

"Some  skin-scrapers,  long  pestles,  celts,  grooved  axes  of  syenite 
(?),  corn-mortars  (one  biconcave)  and  flints  of  various  forms,  either 
found  by  me  or  by  others  in  this  locality,  are  not  worth  special  re 
mark." 

Dr.  Daniel  G.  Brinton,180  in  a  brief  notice  of  various  inland  shell- 
heaps,  more  especially  those  of  Florida,  and  along  the  Tennessee  river 
and  its  tributaries,  has  called  attention  to  the  fact,  that "  the  exclusively 
artificial  character  of  many  of  these  deposits,  even  of  very  consider 
able  size,  was  first  prominently  brought  before  the  scientific  public  by 
Mr.  Lardner  Vanuxem,  in  the  proceedings  of  the  American  Association 
of  Geologists  and  Naturalists  for  1840-42  (pp.  21-23).  The  exist 
ence  of  enormous  accumulations  of  the  shells  of  the  Ostrea  virgintca, 
and  Venus  mercenaria,  on  the  shores  of  the  Chesapeake  and  its  afflu 
ent  streams,  on  the  Jersey  shore  and  Long  Island,  was  discussed,  and 
various  proofs  of  their  formation  by  the  aboriginal  tribes  pointed  out ;" 
and  he  further  states,  that  "these  proofs  may  be  briefly  summed  up  as 
follows  :  First.  Valves  of  the  same  animal  are  rarely  found  together. 
Second.  Arrowheads,  fragments  of  pottery  and  charcoal  are  mixed 
with  the  shells  in  situ  naturali.  Third.  The  shells  are  broken,  and 
frequently  charred.  Fourth.  The  substratum  of  the  deposit  is  the  same 
as  the  surrounding  soil.  Fifth.  The  deposits  are  at  the  mouth  and 
shores  of  water-courses,  where  the  shell-fish  abound.  Sixth.  There  is 
absence  of  stratification  and  older  fossils." 

180Brinton.     Smithsonian  Annual  Report  for  1866,  p.  356.     Washington   D.  C. 


444  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

Dr.  Brinton  subsequently  remarks  :  "It  seems  hardly  necessary  to 
adduce  evidence  from  the  old  voyagers  to  show  that  in  the  commissa 
riat  of  the  native  coast  tribes,  esculent  shell-fish  constituted  an  impor 
tant  item.  Cabeza  de  Vaca  describes  the  accolents  of  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  as  dwelling  in  houses  of  mats,  '  built  on  heaps  of  oyster 
shells'  (Ramusio  Viaggi,  torn,  iii,  fol.  3 17),  and  the  first  settlers  of 
Maryland  record  with  pleasurable  recollections,  'oisters,  broil'd  and 
stewed/  that  the  savages  offered  them  in  profusion. —  (Relation  of 
Maryland,  1634,  p.  18,  in  Shea's  Southern  Tracts). 

The  late  Prof.  Wyman,181  in  the  American  Naturalist,  has  given  some 
what  detailed  descriptions  of  various  marine  shell-heaps  in  Maine  and 
Massachusetts,  and  these  may  be  taken  as  typical  of  such  deposits 
wherever  found  upon  the  New  England  coast.  These  deposits  are  in 
Frenchman's  Bay,  and  at  Crouch's  Cove,  on  an  island  in  Casco  Bay, 
Maine  ;  and  at  Eagle  Hill,  in  Ipswich ;  in  the  town  of  Salisbury ;  and 
at  Cotuit  Port,  in  the  town  of  Barnstable,  Massachusetts.  The  shell- 
heap  at  Frenchman's  Bay  was  "  examined  only  near  its  border,  where 
a  pit  was  sunk,  showing  a  deposit  of  clam  shells  about  two  feet  in 
thickness.  Among  these  were  found  the  bones  of  several  animals, 
including  those  of  the  deer,  elk  and  beaver,  but  no  implements  of  any 
kind."  Another  deposit  on  an  unnamed  island  was  more  carefully 
examined.  "A  section  through  the  heap  at  its  thickest  part  showed 
that  it  belonged  to  two  different  periods,  indicated  by  two  distinct 
layers  of  shells.  The  lowest,  a  foot  in  thickness,  consisted  of  the 
shells  of  the  clam,  whelk  and  mussel,  all  much  decomposed,  and  mixed 
with  earth.  Above  this  was  a  layer  of  dark  vegetable  mould,  mixed 
with  earth  and  gravel,  and  from  six  to  eight  inches  in  thickness.  Above 
this  was  a  second  layer  of  shells,  of  the  same  species  as  those  just 
mentioned,  but  in  a  much  better  state  of  preservation,  and  with  less 
intermixture  of  earth  ;  this  deposit  was  in  turn  covered  by  another  layer 
of  earth  and  mould,  and  these  now  sustain  a  growth  of  forest  trees,  but 
none  of  them  of  large  size." 

isiWyman.     American  Naturalist,  vol.  i,  p.  560,  et  seq.     Salem,  Mass.,  1868. 


SHELL-HEAPS.  445 

The  shell-heaps  at  Crouch's  Cove  also  proved,  on  examination,  to 
have  been  "  deposited  in  two  different  layers,  very  much  as  on  the 
island  in  Frenchman's  Bay." 

In  all  these  heaps,  the  increased  size  and  solidity  of  many  of  the 
shells,  as  compared  with  the  same  species  now  living  in  the  adja 
cent  waters,  were  noticed ;  and  to  some  extent,  certain  species,  notably 
the  quahaug  (  Venus  mercenaria)  which  is  now  very  scarce  and  local, 
north  of  Cape  Cod,  were  abundant. 

Dr.  Chas.  Ran182  has  given  a  detailed  description  of  shell-heaps 
near  Keyport,  Monmouth  Co.,  New  Jersey,  which  may  be  considered 
as  typical  of  the  larger  deposits  found  along  the  New  Jersey  coast. 
These  heaps  of  refuse  were  made  up  of  the  common  oyster  ( Ostrea 
bo  re  a  Us),  and.  the  hard-shell  clam  (  Venus  mercenaria),  with  a  small 
percentage  of  periwinkles  (Pyrula  canaliculata  and  P.  carica).  Evi 
dence  of  the  occupancy  of  these  places  by  the  Indians  is  to  be  seen 
in  the  presence  "  of  numerous  fragments  of  pottery  and  stone  imple 
ments  of  the  usual  kind,  otherwise  very  scarce  in  this  part  of  New 
Jersey." 

On  the  extensive  meadows  immediately  back  or  west  of  Atlantic 
City,  Atlantic  Co.,  New  Jersey,  are  many  small  shell-heaps,  some  only 
a  few  yards  square.  These  heaps  are  made  up  of  shells  of  the  oyster, 
hard-shell  clam  or  quahaug,  periwinkles  and  soft-shell  clams,  all  of 
which  show  the  effects  of  exposure  to  fire.  Careful  examination  of 
many  failed  to  yield  a  single  stone  or  bone  implement.  These  heaps, 
which  are  "in  the  marsh,  and  extend  down  to  the  hard  ground,"  were 
made  when  gathering  the  shell-fish  for  winter  use,  and  were  probably 
occupied  only  temporarily.  Dr.  G.  H.  Cook,183  mentions  the  existence 
of  these  heaps  in  many  localities  along  the  New  Jersey  coast,  and 
states  that  "  there  is  every  indication  that  the  marsh  has  grown  several 
feet  about  them  since  they  were  deposited." 

During  the  summer  of  1879,  in  company  with  Mr.  F.  W.  Putnam, 


1B2Rau.     Smithsonian  Annual  Report  for  1864,  p.  370.     Washington,  D.  C. 
183Cook.     Geology  of  New  Jersey,   p.  362.     Newark,  New  Jersey,  1868. 


446  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

the  author  visited  and  carefully  examined  an  extensive  shell-heap  on 
the  west  bank  of  Dowdy's  Creek,  near  Absecom  Inlet,  Atlantic  Co.,  New 
Jersey.  This  deposit  measured  one  hundred  yards  in  length,  and 
varied  from  three  to  ten  yards  in  width.  At  present  it  is  about  four 
feet  above  high  water,  and  nearly  as  many  below  low  water.184  These 
measurements,  with  that  of  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  tide  make  the 
deposit,  at  present,  fully  twelve  feet  in  thickness.  There  have,  how 
ever,  been  many  shiploads  taken  from  the  surface,  and  when  finally 
abandoned  by  the  Indians,  it  was  doubtlessly  half  as  deep  again  as  at 
present.  It  is  composed  in  great  part  of  hard-shell  clams,  with  about 
ten  per  cent,  of  oysters  and  periwinkles.  A  few  fragments  of  charcoal 
were  found,  and  all  the  shells  and  fragments  showed  traces  of  fire. 
No  stone  or  bone  implements  were  found. 

This  extensive  shell-heap,  like  the  many  smaller  ones  in  the  imme 
diate  vicinity,  was  evidently  simply  a  favorite  spot  for  gathering  the 
shell-fish,  and  in  no  respect  a  village  site  or  even  a  camping  ground. 
Situated  in  a  marsh  meadow  on  a  navigable  creek,  and  but  a  short 
sail  from  high  ground,  the  Indians  appear  to  have  passed  to  and  fro, 
from  the  heap  to  the  high  land,  where  there  are  abundant  traces  of 
their  village  sites.  Failing  to  find  any  implements  or  handiwork  of  any 
kind  in  the  shell-heap,  we  hunted  over  various  ploughed  fields  on  the 
higher  ground,  and  gathered  numerous  fragments  of  pottery,  and  a  few 
arrowheads. 

Why  the  shell  deposits  and  village  sites,  in  this  locality,  should  be 
thus  separated,  is  not  readily  understood,  especially  when  it  is  seen 
that  these  deposits,  now  surrounded  by  marsh,  extend  to  the  hard 
ground.  Then,  as  now,  there  was  a  deep,  navigable  stream  between 
them  and  the  present  main  shore,  but  this  of  itself  would  seem  to 


184This  measurement  was  made  from  the  present  bed  of  the  creek,  which  has  cut  a  channel  upon 
one  edge  of  this  deposit,  and  shows  a  fine  section  of  the  heap.  It  is  a  homogeneous  mass:  the 
lowermost  portions  being  more  decomposed  than  those  nearer  the  surface.  Whether  the  "fast 
ground,"  upon  which  the  shell-heap  is  built  up,  is  much  lower  than  the  bed  of  the  creek  was  not 
determined  positively,  but  it  probably  is  two  or  three  feet  below  it,  and  thus  gives  the  deposit  that 
additional  thickness. 


SHELL-HEAPS.  447 

offer  no  objection  to  the  locality  as  a  village  site.  We  can  only  ac 
count  for  it  by  the  probability  that,  when  the  deposit  was  commenced, 
this  hard  ground  was  then  so  near  the  level  of  the  ocean,  that  occa 
sional  tides  and  the  sea,  during  storms,  swept  over  it.  If  this  were  an 
exceptional  occurrence,  it  would  offer  no  obstacle  to  the  temporary 
occupation  of  the  place  as  a  station  for  collecting  clams  and  oysters, 
but  it  would  be  an  insuperable  objection  to  the  locality  as  a  permanent 
abode.  This,  too,  would  explain  the  absence  of  the  bones  of  edible 
mammals,  birds  and  fishes,  and  also  of  implements,  all  of  which  are 
found  in  the  New  England  shell-heaps,  and  in  those  of  New  Jersey, 
which  are  built  up  upon  the  main  shore,  or  upon  ground  that  could  be 
permanently  occupied. 

Mr.  Chas.  F.  Woolley,  in  a  communication  to  the  American  Antiqua 
rian  (vol.  i,  p.  225),  refers  to  the  existence  of  "many  shell-heaps  of 
aboriginal  origin  along"  the  New  Jersey  coast,  and  adds  :  "but  few  of 
these  reward  the  seeker  with  anything  except  a  few  chippings,  and  in 
many,  even  these  are  wanting,  *  *  *  *  the  majority  having  been  made 
by  the  Indians  in  casting  away  the  valves  of  the  shell-fish,  after  string 
ing  or  otherwise  preparing  them,  to  carry  back  to  their  more  permanent 
habitations  in  the  interior ;  for  our  state  was  traversed  by  well-defined 
trails  leading  from  the  Delaware  to  oyster-producing  inlets  of  the 
Shrewsbury,  Squan  and  other  streams.  One  of  these  heaps  near  Tuck- 
erton,  known  as  the  "Hummock,"  has  its  base  upon  the  Salt  Mead 
ows,  a  half-mile  from  the  firm  land,  and  is  very  conspicuous  as  it  can 
be  seen  from  out  at  sea  ;  it  is  a  solid  mass  of  chm  shells  (  Venus  mer- 
cenarid],  eleven  feet  high,  twenty-five  feet  long,  and  an  average  width 
of  six  feet :  upon  the  top  are  growing  several  red  cedars,  six  inches  in 
diameter ;  no  whole  shells  could  be  found  and  but  few  entire  valves, 
they  all  showing  the  marks  of  having  been  opened  with  a  rude  instru 
ment.  ,  This  has  been  opened  several  times,  and  tons  of  shells  carted 
away,  but  not  a  chipping  or  fragment  of  pottery  has  been  seen,  though 
it  is  of  undoubted  aboriginal  origin,  and  upon  the  mainland  opposite 
and  a  half-mile  away,  ground  axes,  celts  and  other  implements  have 
been  found." 


44  8  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

The  New  England  shell-heaps,  after  most  critical  examination  by 
Prof.  Wyman,185  exhibit  no  indications  of  an  antiquity  as  high  as  those 
of  the  old  world.  He  remarks  :  "The  materials  of  them  present  some 
variety  in  the  degree  of  decomposition,  which  has  resulted  from  time 
and  exposure,  the  lower  layers  being  much  more  disintegrated  and  fri 
able,  the  shells  in  fact,  falling  to  pieces,  while  those  of  the  upper  ones 
generally  preserve  their  original  firmness."  Dr.  Rau186  observed  this 
same  peculiarity  in  the  heaps  he  examined  at  Keyport,  Monmouth  Co., 
New  Jersey.  He  says  "that  considerable  time  was  required  to  heap 
up  these  shells  is  evident,  and,  moreover,  indicated  by  the  chalky,  po 
rous  appearance  and  fragility  of  many  of  the  valves,  while  those  that 
were  cast  away  at  later  periods  exhibit  these  signs  of  decay  in  a  far 
less  degree."  Prof.  Wyman  also  notes  the  fact  of  "a  disintegration  of 
the  shores,  the  seas  undermining  and  destroying  the  deposits,"  and 
adds,  "there  can  be  no  doubt  that  these  (deposits)  were  once  much 
more  extensive  than  now,  and  that  the  water  has  worked  its  way  into 
their  places.  Lastly,  these  deposits  contain  the  remains  of  animals,  as 
of  the  elk,  not  known  at  present  to  exist,  to  the  eastward  of  the  Alle- 
ghany  mountains ;  of  the  wild  turkey,  now  virtually  extinct  in  New 
England  ;  and  of  the  great  auk,  which  *  *  *  *  has  receded  almost, 
if  not  quite,  to  the  Arctic  regions,"187  and  concludes  that  there  is  as 
yet  "no  proof  of  great  age,  or  high  antiquity." 

The  same  is  applicable  to  the  New  Jersey  shell-heaps,  the  age  of 
which  can  only  be  estimated  by  the  indications  of  the  subsidence  of 
the  entire  coastline,  now  in  progress. 

Prof.  G.  H.  Cook188  states  that  "there  is  an  abundance  of  evidence 
to  show  that  a  slow  subsidence  of  all  the  land  along  the  tide-waters 
not  only  of  New  Jersey,  but  of  the  whole  eastern  coast  of  the  United 
States,  has  been  going  on  for  several  hundred  years  past,  and  there  is 
evidence  that  it  is  still  in  full  progress.  This  movement  is  one  of  a 


i8.r>\YTyman>  /.  c.,  p.  571. 

ll?cRau,  /.  c.,  p.  372. 

187  The  auk  is  now  believed  to  be  extinct, 

«8Cook,  /.  c.,  p.  362. 


SHELL-HEAPS.  449 

series  which  has  occurred  on  our  coast,  by  which  the  line  of  water-level 
has  been  alternately  elevated  and  depressed.  The  extent  of  the  move 
ments  is  quite  limited,  the  whole  range  being  comprised  within  twenty 
feet."  Prof.  Cook  was  able  to  make  some  measurements,  from  which 
he  concluded  the  rate  of  subsidence  to  be  "about  two  feet  in  a  cen 
tury,  or  one  quarter  of  an  inch  in  a  year.  The  whole  amount  of  this 
subsidence  is  not  known  ;  it  must,  at  least,  equal  the  whole  depth  from 
high  water-mark  to  the  lowest  points  at  which  stumps  and  roots  of 
trees  have  been  found  in  their  places  of  growth.  This  from  the  evi 
dence,  *  *  *  *  is  seventeen  feet,  and  it  may  be  more." 

This,  in  brief,  would  indicate  that  if  the  shell-heaps  now  resting,  as 
they  all  do,  upon  "fast  ground,"  but  surrounded  by  marsh-meadow, 
were  begun  at  the  commencement  of  the  subsidence,  then  at  the  rate 
of  two  feet  per  century,  the  depression  being  about  twenty  feet,  they 
would  date  back  one  thousand  years.  If,  however,  we  consider  that 
there  have  been  a  series  of  these  movements,  and  that  the  elevation 
may  not  be  perfectly  regular  in  its  movement,  there  is  no  reason  why 
they  should  not  be  much  older.  Possibly,  as  the  movements  them 
selves  have  been  oscillatory  there  may  have  been  earlier  shell-heaps 
that  were  destroyed  by  a  preceding  period  of  submergence  ;  as  many 
of  the  present  heaps  are  now  being  washed  away  by  the  encroach 
ments  of  the  sea. 

A  thousand  years  is  not  time  enough  to  explain  many  facts  con 
nected  with  the  archaeology  of  the  inland  districts.  If  it  could  be 
shown  that  there  were  no  shell-heaps  of  greater  age,  then  it  would 
be  necessary  to  class  them  among  the  later  traces  of  the  former  occu 
pants  of  this  continent,  which  no  one  would  willingly  admit.  Hence 
it  is  evident  that  a  considerable  antiquity  must  be  assigned  to  them  — 
an  age  greater  by  far  than  ten  centuries. 

Dr.  Cook189  mentions  that  "the  enormous  piles  of  clam  and  oyster 
shells,  which  were  accumulated  by  the  Indians,  are  all  in  the  marsh, 


18S)Cook,  /.  c .,  p.  362. 
29 


450  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

and  extend  down  to  the  hard  ground."  It  is  obvious  from  this,  that 
this  "hard  ground"  was  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  oyster  and 
clam  beds,  when  the  Indians  first  tajrried  here.  There  is  absolutely  no 
reason  for  supposing  that  it  was  after  the  subsidence  had  commenced, 
that  the  shells  were  first  thrown  down  in  a  heap.  It  is  even  possible 
that  at  that  time,  the  land  might  have  been  slowly  rising  to  a  higher 
level,  and  it  is  clearly  as  probable  that  the  Indian  was  wandering  along 
the  coast  at  the  very  earliest  practicable  date,  as  that  he  first  trod  these 
sandy  beaches  at  some  very  recent  period. 

Furthermore,  some  of  the  fresh- water  shell- heaps  have  now  an  accu 
mulation  of  peat  and  alluvial  deposit  over  them,  that  is  itself  indica 
tive  of  a  considerable  antiquity.  One  of  these  has  been  found  at  a 
depth  of  six  feet  below  the  present  surface,  resting  upon  the  tertiary 
g  avels  exposed  by  the  shrinking  of  the  old  glacial  river  to  its  present 
narrow  channel.  This  refuse  heap  is  of  an  identical  age  with  the 
argillite  fish-spears  already  described. 

Shell-heaps  built  upon  "fast  ground,"  and  now  oceanward  of  our 
coastline,  have  long  since  been  destroyed  by  the  steady  encroachment 
of  the  sea,  and  so  our  study  of  the  antiquity  of  those  that  remain  in 
tact,  can  give  us  no  clue  to  the  earliest  of  these  accumulations.  Man 
therefore  is  older  than  the  oldest  of  the  shell-heaps  that  remain. 

Furthermore,  in  basing  any  estimate  of  antiquity  upon  shell-heaps, 
it  must  be  borne  in  mind,  that  the  savage  race  or  races,  when  they  first 
appeared  on  this  coast  were  certainly  few  in  numbers  and  widely  scat 
tered  ;  and  it  must  necessarily  have  been  long  subsequent  to  the  time 
of  their  arrival,  that  their  numbers  so  increased  and  their  habitations 
were  so  far  permanent  as  to  result  in  the  formation  of  these  enormous 
heaps  of  shells. 

When  we  consider  the  millions  upon  millions  of  shell-fish  that  were 
gathered,  and  from  them  pass  to  our  river  valleys,  and  see  there  too, 
thousands  of  the  relics  of  the  Indians  dotting  every  field,  and  further, 
trace  the  growth  of  the  flint-chipping  art  from  the  relics  of  the  deeper 
to  those  of  the  superficial  soils,  is  it  unreasonable  to  ascribe  a  "high 


SHELL-HEAPS. 


45  J 


antiquity"  to  the  dusky  savage  whom  the  pale-faced  intruder  found  in 
possession  of  these  lands  ? 


CHAPTER    XXXI. 


FLINT^CHIPS. 


UNDER  this  general  term  may  be  considered  the  various  flakes,  splin 
ters,  chips,  cores,  and  the  refuse  of  those  minerals  that  have  been 
used  in  the  manufacture  of  such  chipped  implements,  as  knives, 
scrapers,  spearheads,  arrovvpoints,  and  drills  or  perforators.  Wherever 
any  of  these  or  allied  forms  of  finished  implements  occur,  it  is  usual 
to  find  chance  specimens  of  this  refuse  material,  and,  when  thus  met 
with,  they  have  much  more  archaeological  significance  than  is  generally 
supposed.  When,  however,  vast  quantities  of  such  chippings  occur, 
in  a  very  limited  area,  they  indicate,  without  doubt,  that  the  various 
forms  of  weapons  and  implements  were  there  made  in  quantities  ;  and, 
doubtlessly  by  a  system  of  trade190  among  adjoining  tribes,  they  were 
in  time  dispersed  over  a  large  extent  of  country. 

Such  accumulations  of  this  refuse  material  are  met  with  under  two 
quite  different  circumstances  :  as  where  a  suitable  exposure  of  living 
rock  occurs  that  is  adapted  to  the  manufacture  of  the  various  forms  of 
implements,  which  are,  in  such  cases,  necessarily  of  the  same  mineral, 
and  present,  curiously  enough,  a  very  uniform  appearance  in  the  pat 
tern  adopted,  although  the  mineral  is  readily  chipped  into  other  and 
more  delicate  forms,  as  shown  by  broken  specimens  in  the  refuse 
heaps  where  a  bowlder  of  this  same  rock  has  been  utilized ;  and  again, 
we  have  such  accumulations,  where  selected  minerals,  in  small  masses, 
have  been  brought  together,  and  from  this  little  storehouse  of  crude 
materials  the  various  forms  of  implements  and  weapons  have  been 
formed. 


»°Rau.     Smith.  Ann.  Reps.,  for  1872,  p.  348,  and  1877,  p.  291. 

(453) 


454  PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 

In  the  upper  valley  of  the  Delaware  river,  where  the  rocks  fre 
quently  afford  such  shelter  of  which  the  Indian  was  glad  to  avail  him 
self  and  which  are,  at  the  same  time,  suitable  for  making  many  of 
the  forms  of  implements  which  his  ingenuity  had  at  that  time  devised, 
these  traces  of  an  early  occupancy  of  the  country  by  savage  man, 
shown  by  the  accumulations  of  flakes  and  splinters, —  these  "open-air 
workshops,"  as  they  have  been  called,  —  are  frequently  met  with.  The 
abundance  of  small  flakes  or  chips,  and  of  broken  and  unfinished 
specimens,  at  once  indicates  the  character  of  the  locality.  In  such  as 
have  been  carefully  examined,  there  has  been  a  marked  absence  of 
the  small  pebbles  and  indented  oval  stones  that  are  supposed  to  have 
been  used  in  flaking  the  chert,  jasper,  and  quartz,  which  were  so 
largely  selected  for  the  manufacture  of  stone  implements.  Whether 
they  had  been  removed  and  the  places  abandoned  while  the  Indians 
were  still  in  possession  of  the  country  or  not,  cannot  now  be  deter 
mined  ;  but  in  all  the  workshop  sites  that  were  visited  where  the  liv 
ing  rock  was  utilized,  there  was  in  every  instance  an  absence  of  seve 
ral  features  that  characterize  the  same  sites  when  found  in  more  south 
ern  localities,  where  there  is  no  living  rock,  and  all  the  material  and  the 
tools  themselves,  when  of  stone,  were  transported  from  more  or  less 
distant  points.  The  former  have  always  seemed  to  imply  that  the 
locality,  being  accessible  to  all,  the  Indians  came  and  went  as  their 
needs  suggested,  and  fashioned  for  themselves  what  implements  they 
desired,  and  in  this  case  they  naturally  took  away  with  them  the  tools 
they  used.  This  would  account  for  a  marked  absence  of  even  the 
simple  hammer-stones.  On  the  other  hand,  where  all  the  material  is 
foreign  to  the  spot,  it  was  probably  the  property  of  one  or  a  few  indi 
viduals  ;  and  if  left  at  any  time,  all  connected  with  it  would  be  left 
behind,  unless  it  were  the  finished  implements. 

At  first  sight  it  might  be  thought  that  where  a  rock  in  situ  could  be 
utilized,  portions  of  it  could  be  selected,  such  as  would  be  available 
for  the  desired  forms  of  implements,  and  hence  that  comparatively 
few  failures  would  occur.  In  other  words,  that  the  detached  mass 
would  be  in  such  shape  and  so  far  free  from  weathered  surfaces,  that 


FLINT-CHIPS.  455 

any  defect  in  its  constitution,  as  the  presence  of  a  foreign  mineral,, 
could  be  detected,  and  no  trial  chipping  need  be  made,  to  deter 
mine  its  availability.  No  such  discrimination,  however,  was  exercised 
by  the  Indians  ;  and  in  a  rock-shelter,  near  Belvidere,  New  Jersey,, 
where  arrowpoints  were  once  made  in  vast  numbers,  there  was  an  im 
mense  accumulation  of  chips  that  had  every  appearance  of  being, 
simply  failures,  being,  for  the  most  part,  blocked-out  spearheads,  which 
had  been  broken  into  halves,  or  otherwise  so  fractured,  as  to  render 
them  useless.  In  all  such  cases  there  were  to  be  traced  such  variations 
from  the  characteristic  constitution  of  the  mineral  as  explained  the 
cause  of  the  failure  to  produce  a  finished  implement  on  the  part  of 
the  ancient  worker. 

While,  therefore,  one  cannot  but  admire  the  beauty  of  workmanship, 
and  marked  display  of  -taste,  as  shown  in  the  finish  and  design  of  the 
thousands  of  arrowpoints  that  have  been  gathered  from  our  fields,  it 
must  be  admitted  that,  notwithstanding  all  their  skill,  the  makers  ex 
perienced  much  unnecessary  trouble  from  their  inability  to  judge  of  the 
qualities  of  a  given  mass  of  mineral,  prior  to  expending  considerable 
labor  upon  it.  It  was  to  this,  rathei  than  to  want  of  skill,  when  good 
material  was  used,  that  we  must  attribute  the  quantities  of  "failures," 
as  they  have  been  well  called,  which  characterize  many  a  former  site 
of  an  arrowmaker's  labors. 

It  is  desirable  now,  to  refer  in  detail  to  an  accumulation  of  chips,, 
cores,  hammers,  and  other  material,  found  in  a  limited  space,  and 
which  indicated  very  clearly  that  at  that  spot  some  one  or  more  red- 
men  had,  for  a  long  time,  been  accustomed  to  manufacture  all  the 
forms  of  weapons  and  domestic  implements  collectively  known  as 
chipped  implements  ;  for  it  is  a  curious  fact,  that,  so  far  as  it  was  prac 
ticable  to  determine,  not  a  trace  of  a  polished  implement  or  polishing 
tool  has  been  met  with  in  these  open-air  workshops. 

In  Hamilton  township,  Mercer  Co.,  New  Jersey,  the  author  discov 
ered,  during  the  summer  of  1878,  a  large  series  of  splinters  and  irreg 
ular  chips  of  jasper,  mingled  with  the  soil  of  a  newly  drained  swamp. 
Immediately  over  these  fragments  large  trees  had  grown,  flourished  to 


456  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

maturity,  and  died  of  old  age.  Judging  from  the  depth  at  which  some 
of  the  jasper  chips  were  buried,  it  was  evident  that  these  trees  had 
either  been  mere  saplings,  or  ha.d  not  yet  sprouted,  when  the  arrow- 
maker  here  pursued  his  calling.  Attention  having  been  called  to  the 
spot  by  the  surface  indications,  the  ground  over  an  area  of  several 
square  yards  was  examined  and  a  large  quantity  of  interesting  material 
gathered  which  has  since  been  placed  in  the  Cambridge  Museum.  It 
consists,  first,  of  masses  of  jasper  and  allied  minerals,  gathered  from 
the  gravel  beds  that  form  the  eastern  bank  of  the  Delaware  river,  at  a 
point  some  two  miles  distant,  as  the  crow  flies.  Secondly,  of  cores, 
or  the  remnants  of  the  selected  masses  above  mentioned,  which  were 
too  small  or  too  irregular  in  shape  to  be  further  available.  Thirdly,  of 
large  flakes,  which  being  similar  to  those  that  often  occur  associated 
with  relics  in  our  fields,  may  or  may  not  have  been  considered  and 
used  as  finished  implements.  These  flakes,  however,  show  little  sec 
ondary  chipping,  and  were  intermingled  with  chips,  splinters,  and  other 
refuse  material.  A  noticeable  feature  of  these  flint-like  masses  and 
chips  is  the  wonderful  range  of  color  they  exhibit ;  not  only  are  there 
different  shades  of  red,  purple,  blue,  green,  brown,  and  yellow,  but 
many  are  most  beautifully  variegated.  While  there  seems  much  evi 
dence  to  show  that  attractive  coloration  was  prized  by  the  aborigines, 
it  is  found  that  the  implements  made  from  such  material  were  either 
retained  by  them  on  relinquishing  this  territory  to  the  white  settlers,  or 
the  mineral  thus  brightly  colored  is  more  easily  fractured,  when  used 
as  weapons.  Of  the  thousands  of  arrowpoints  already  gathered,  those 
still  perfect,  of  pale  green,  bright  yellow,  blue,  and  the  lighter  shades 
of  red,  are  quite  rare  ;  yet  flakes  and  broken  implements  of  these 
colors  are  represented,  not  only  in  the  fields,  but  in  the  workshop 
accumulations,  as  already  mentioned.  Fourthly,  of  blocked-out  and 
subsequently  discarded  specimens, —  the  failure  to  finish  them  being 
evidently  caused  by  a  flaw  in  the  mineral  not  detected  at  the  outset. 
Fifthly,  of  specimens  that  were  nearly  finished  but  irreparably  injured 
by  some  unlucky  finishing  touch.  These  are  often  arrowheads,  with 
the  points  broken  off,  or  such  as  have  a  barb  or  a  basal  corner  de- 


FLINT-CHIPS.  45  7 

tached.  A  very  considerable  number  of  these  are  certainly  quite 
as  useful  as  weapons,  as  perfect  specimens,  and  why  discarded,  as 
they  were,  for  some  very  trifling  defect,  is  difficult  to  understand. 
Are  we  to  conclude,  that  the  readiness  with  which  adepts  manufac 
tured  these  chipped  implements  was  far  greater  than  has  been  sup 
posed,  and,  therefore,  that  these  objects  were  really  sold  at  a  very 
cheap  rate,  and  that  the  Indian  purchaser  could  afford  to  be  very 
particular  ?  Sixthly,  of  chips  and  splinters  of  every  size  and  shape, 
being  the  ordinary  refuse  that  would  necessarily  accumulate  in  the 
course  of  chipping  jasper  into  arrow  and  spearpoints.  Seventhly,  of  a 
series  of  oval,  of  nearly  square,  and  of  some  irregularly  shaped  pebbles 
of  sandstone,  jasper,  hornstone,  and  porphyry,  mostly  with  shallow 
depressions,  one  on  each  side,  and  with  the  ends,  if  oval,  and  the 
angles,  if  square  or  of  irregular  outline,  so  battered  as  to  show  that 
they  had  been  used  in  striking  mineral  as  dense  or  more  resisting  than 
that  of  which  they  consist.  Considering  the  circumstances  under 
which  they  were  found,  their  shape,  and  the  evidence  of  hard  usage 
which  they  exhibit,  it  is  very  evident  that  they  are  rude  implements 
used,  at  least  in  part,  in  the  manufacture  of  arrowpoints  and  other 
forms  of  chipped  implements.  The  use  of  such  hammerstones  was 
doubtlessly  quite  limited,  and  other  less  uncertain  means  were  taken 
to  produce  the  delicate  finish  of  the  smaller  implements  and  weapons. 
Although  the  size  of  these  hammerstOTies  varies  greatly,  it  is  difficult 
to  see  how  minute  flakes  could  be  detached  by  their  aid.  Probably 
bone  implements,  that  have  since  decayed,  were  used  as  finishing 
tools. 

This  simple  form  of  hammer,  it  is  well  here  to  observe,  is  very  com 
mon  wherever  the  ordinary  patterns  of  relics  are  met  with,  and  in  every 
series  gathered  by  collectors  in  various  parts  of  the  state  (New  Jersey) 
there  are  several  examples,  varying  considerably  in  size  and  shape. 
It  can  scarcely  be  held  that  they  had  any  use  as  a  weapon,  while  as 
hammers  they  would  be  useful  in  many  ways. 

Eighthly,  of  a  few  flat  slabs  of  stone  of  small  size,  with  an  occasional 
trace  of  hammering  on  either  side.  These  were  possibly  used  as  lap- 


458  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

/ 

stones  in  part,  and  may  have  been  used,  also,  in  connection  with  bone 
implements,  or  flakers,  as  a  breastplate,  whereon  rested  the  base  of 
the  bone  flaking-tool,  when,  by  pressure,  series  of  small  flakes  were 
detached.  This,  however,  is  altogether  conjectural. 

In  all  this  large  mass  of  material  consisting  of  about  one  thousand 
pieces,  there  were  no  traces  of  charcoal,  nor  any  indication  whatever 
of  fire  ;  no  pottery,  nor  any  whole  or  fragmentary  weapon,  nor  do 
mestic  implement  of  any  description  other  than  those  mentioned. 

The  apparent  absence  of  fire  from  this  unquestionable  workshop 
site  deserves  a  few  words  of  comment,  as  many  suggestions  naturally 
arise.  It  may,  indeed,  be  thought  that  the  absence  of  charcoal  is 
mere  negative  evidence,  and  does  not  show  that  fire  was  not  used  at 
this  spot ;  but  when  we  consider  that  fire  here  would  always  be  at  or 
very  near  the  same  place,  whenever  kindled,  and  would  be  kept  con 
tinually  burning  during  winter,  it  is  evident  that  some  trace  of  it 
would  remain  in  or  on  soil  not  subsequently  disturbed,  as  was  the 
case  in  this  instance.  Very  frequently  in  examinations  of  different 
known  localities  where  stone  implements  abound,  there  have  been 
found  traces  of  fire  that  were  clearly  evidences  of  the  occupation  of 
the  locality  before  the  first  visit  of  the  white  settlers.  Assuming, 
then,  that  the  absence  of  all  indication  of  fire  is  evidence  that  one  had 
never  been  kindled  there  by  the  Indians,  the  fact  seems  to  imply  that 
the  spot  was  not  occupied  in  winter,  a  season  when  we  should  naturally 
suppose  the  Indians  would  be  far  busier  in  this  industry  than  at  any 
other  time.  The  supposed  absence  of  fire  also  indicates  that  the 
flint,  prior  to  use,  was  not  heated,  as  has  been  stated  was  often  done. 
What  the  effects  of  moderate  exposure  to  heat  are,  so  far  as  facili 
tating  the  fracture  of  jasper  and  allied  mineral,  is  questionable ;  but 
the  author's  experience  in  arrow-making  leads  him  to  conclude  that 
the  varieties  of  jasper  and  quartz  represented  in  these  several  series 
are  quite  readily  fractured,  by  either  percussion,  or  pressure  ;  and  the 
art  of  arrowpoint  making  consists  wholly  in  the  acquired  skill  in  gov 
erning  the  size  and  direction  of  the  flakes  detached,  after  the  imple 
ment  has  acquired,  in  general  outline,  the  desired  shape  and  size. 


FLINT-CHIPS.  459 

On  the  other  hand,  while  a  site,  such  as  this,  was  apparently  only 
occupied  in  pleasant  weather,  it  is  noticeable  that  all  such  sites,  so 
far  as  discovered,  lie  in  close  proximity  to  a  spring  or  rivulet  of  good 
water. 

The  entire  amount  of  refuse  material,  and  number  of  tools  found 
on  this  workshop  site,  do  not  throw  any  light  upon  the  length  of  time 
this  spot  was  occupied ;  but,  as  it  is  not  demonstrable  how  many 
chips  were  necessarily  stricken  off  in  making  an  arrowhead,  and  as  the 
earth  was  here  thickly  strewn  with  thousands  of  very  small  flakes,  looking 
very  much  like  coarsely  crumbled  shells  and  as  much  of  this  refuse,  as 
well  as  some  of  the  larger  pieces,  was  quite  deep  in  the  soil,  it  seems 
evident  that  the  spot  was  occupied  for  a  long  time.  The  coarse 
refuse  may  indeed  at  times  have  been  gathered  up  and  removed, 
but  even  supposing  that  this  was  never  done,  the  thickly  and  deeply 
bestrewn  condition  of  the  soil  with  very  minute  chips  indicates  a 
prolonged  occupation  of  this  particular  site.  We  find  just  such  frag 
ments  about  the  known  sites  of  Indian  settlements,  and  flint  chips 
are  recorded  among  the  contents  of  graves.191 

Considering  all  the  circumstances,  the  story  that  this  accumulation 
tells  is  this  :  here,  shaded  by  dense  woods,  on  a  slightly  elevated  knoll, 
in  the  midst  of  a  meadow-like  expanse  of  low-lying  ground,  through 
which  trickled  a  sparkling  spring  brook,  had  tarried,  at  times,  for  years, 
an  arrowmaker,  shaping  with  marvellous  skill  those  varied  patterns 
of  spearpoints  and  delicate  drills,  which  are  still  gathered  from  the 
adjoining  fields.  Unlike  localities  of  many  acres  in  extent,  where  the 
traces  of  former  occupation  are  scattered  throughout  the  whole  area, 
and  indicate  that  manufacturing  had  once  been  in  progress  simply  by 
the  abundance  of  chips,  we  have  in  this  workshop  site  the  evidences 
of  the  toil  of,  probably,  a  single  skilled  workman,  who,  in  the  quiet  ot 
his  forest  retreat,  spent  the  greater  portion  of  a  long  and  useful  life. 

There  is  one  feature  of  this  interesting  find  to  which  it  is  de 
sirable  to  call  particular  attention,  inasmuch  as  it  probably  has  an 

191  Eleventh  Annual  Report  of  Peabody  Museum  of  American  Arch,  and  Eth.,  p.  313. 


460  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

important  bearing  on  the  age  of  the  supposed  pre-Indian  arrow  and 
spearpoints,  to  which  allusion  has  been  made  elsewhere.192  This  is  the 
entire  absence  of  argillite,  or  that  material  of  which  nearly  the  entire 
series  of  palaeolithic  implements  from  the  gravel-beds  are  made.  There 
have  been  several  descriptions  already  published  of  the  character  of 
workmanship  and  position  of  a  determining  majority  of  the  rude 
argillite  arrowheads  met  with  near  the  surface,  and  if  they  are,  as  a 
class,  to  be  considered  as  having  the  same  origin  as  that  of  the  more 
elaborately  formed  specimens  of  jasper,  chalcedony  and  quartz,  then 
it  would  be  natural  to  expect  to  find  in  the  refuse  of  an  open-air 
workshop,  such  as  this,  an  abundance  of  flakes,  splinters  and  cores 
of  that  mineral.  Such  traces,  however,  do  not  occur;  nor,  as  yet, 
have  otherwise  similar  sites  been  discovered  where  that  mineral  only 
was  used.  It  can  scarcely  be  held  that,  as  argillite  occurs  in  the 
valley  of  the  Delaware  as  a  living  rock,  there  only  should  we  ex 
pect  to  find  traces  of  the  localities  where  the  mineral  was  worked 
up  into  arrowheads.  It  occurs  also  in  the  drift  in  the  lower  portions 
of  the  same  valley,  and  is  as  readily  obtained  as  the  pebbles  of  quartz 
and  jasper,  with  which  it  is  associated.  Flakes  of  argillite  do  occur 
quite  frequently  in  the  fields,  just  where  we  find  the  finished  relics  of 
the  same  material,  and  also  some  rude  examples  of  what  may  be 
blocked-out  or  unfinished  implements ;  but  why  may  not  these  have 
been  lying  on  the  surface  and  in  the  soil  before  the  advent  of  the 
Indians  ? 

While  the  two  classes,  or  those  stone  implements  made  of  argillite 
and  those  of  quartz,  occur  on  the  surface  intimately  associated,  and 
it  is  obviously  impracticable  to  dissociate  them  with  anything  like 
scientific  accuracy,  yet  there  is  evidence  that  these  argillite  implements 
were  frequently  worked  over  by  the  Indians.  However  this  may  be, 
there  is  no  reason  why  the  rudely  fashioned  and  weathered  argillite 
implements  may  not  be  far  older  than  those  made  of  other  material ; 


192  Eleventh  Annual  Report  of  Peabody  Museum,  p.  254,  1878.     See  also  Chapter  XIX,  p.  277, 
of  this  work. 


FLINT-CHIPS.  461 

and,  when  a  considerable  extent  of  the  territory  is  carefully  examined, 
it  becomes  evident,  as  elsewhere  shown,193  that  such  implements, 
whether  of  pre-Indian  or  Indian  origin,  antedate  the  jasper  and 
quartz  specimens  with  which  they  are  now  associated.  Unques 
tionably,  the  occasional  occurrence  of  argillite  implements  of  ex 
ceeding  delicacy  of  form,  accuracy  of  outline,  and  comparative 
freshness  of  surface,  has  an  important  bearing  upon  the  question  of 
the  date  of  the  general  use  of  this  mineral, — for  such  specimens 
of  savage  handiwork  are  probably  the  productions  of  the  Indians ; 
but  when  we  remember  that  there  have  been  no  arrowpoints  made  in 
New  Jersey  for  at  least  two  centuries,  and  that  argillite  chipped  some 
time  prior  to  that  has  undergone  no  appreciable  alteration,  we  surely 
have  something  of  a  guide  as  to  the  rate  of  weathering  of  those  other 
forms  that  are  so  deeply  altered  over  their  entire  surfaces.194  No  jas 
per  specimens  have  been  found  showing  great  alteration  of  the  surface. 
They  are  as  fresh  as  though  chipped  but  yesterday,  and  is  it  not  prob 
able,  that,  although  argillite  will  be  affected  by  exposure  sooner  than 
jasper,  if  the  two  minerals  were  in  common  use  from  the  date  of  the 
arrival  of  the  Indians,  there  would  be  some  difference  detected  in  the 
surfaces  of  jasper  arrowheads  when  thousands  are  examined  and 
compared  ? 

Until  we  meet  with  the  chips  and  other  refuse  of  argillite  associated 
with  those  of  jasper  and  quartz,  or  discover  a  workshop  site  where  it 
was  solely  used,  is  it  not  safe  to  conclude  that,  from  the  great  degree 
of  weathering  which  the  vast  majority  of  the  implements  made  from 
it  have  undergone,  such  specimens  are  of  an  earlier  origin  than  those 
of  jasper  and  quartz  ;  the  exceptions  being  referable,  first,  to  the  fact 
that  outcroppings  of  this  rock,  where  found  in  place,  were  sometimes 


193 Nature,  vol.  xi,  p.  215,  Jan.  r4,  1875,  London;  and  American  Naturalist,  vol.  x,  June,  1876, 
P-  329- 

194  Arrowheads  of  slate  and  shale  are  quite  commonly  met  with,  throughout  the  entire  area  of 
the  state.  These,  very  generally,  have  "  weathered"  to  a  greater  extent  than  those  of  argillite, 
and  having  much  the  same  appearance  of  the  surface,  are  readily  mistaken,  for  such  as  are  made 
of  the  latter  material.  Arrowheads  of  argillite  are  not  abundant  —  in  many  localities  are  very 
seldom  found. 


462  PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 

utilized,  though  not  to  a  great  extent,  and  also  to  re-chipping  by  the 
Indians,  of  weapons,  that  to  them,  when  they  were  gathered,  were 
veritable  relics  of  a  by-gone  time.  Finally,  as  the  palaeolithic  imple 
ments  proper,  as  found  deeply  embedded  in  the  drift  deposits  are,  as 
a  class,  argillite,  it  is  rational  to  ascribe  the  origin  of  these  rude 
weapons  of  the  same  material  to  the  descendants  of  the  same  people 
who  fashioned  them  ;  and  their  absence  from  the  open-air  workshops 
seems  confirmatory  of  this  supposed  earlier  origin  of  these  ruder,  and 
much  weathered  implements,  in  which  we  have  a  trace  of  an  industry, 
once  world-wide,  on  the  part  of  a  people  ruder  even  than  the  Indians, 
whose  productions  as  a  class  are  as  primitive  and  uniform  as  those  of 
the  later  race  are,  in  comparison,  elaborate  and  varied. 

The  relationship  which  the  argillite  implements  bear  to  those  made 
of  jasper  and  quartz  is  probably  still  further  demonstrated  by  their 
abundance  in  those  places  where  the  two  are  found  commingled ;  for 
it  is  in  the  places  which  are  believed  to  have  been  occupied,  first  by 
the  users  of  argillite,  and  subsequently  by  the  Indians,  that  we  can 
gather  those  facts  which  give  us  some  insight  into  the  relative  antiquity 
of  these  different  peoples.  There  are  no  known  localities  where 
argillite  has  been  made  use  of  exclusively,  and,  if  there  were,  it  would 
be  difficult  to  determine  whether  the  implements  occurring  under  such 
circumstances  were  of  Indian  origin  or  earlier.  On  the  other  hand, 
as  these  implements  are  scattered  promiscuously  over  the  country, 
never  occurring  in  such  workshop  sites  as  have  been  described,  and 
are  found  in  virgin  soil  at  an  average  depth,  greater  than  that  at  which 
jasper  and  quartz  generally  occur,  there  is  in  these  facts  alone,  a  strong 
indication  of  their  greater  antiquity.  Where  thoroughly  commingled, 
as  has  been  the  case  with  the  great  majority  of  surface  "finds"  of 
relics  of  pre-European  races  in  North  America,  the  question  of  the 
abundance  of  the  implements  of  the  one  mineral,  as  compared  with 
those  of  the  other  kinds,  becomes  all-important. 

As  an  indication  of  what  is  supposed  to  be  true  of  the  Atlantic 
coast  of  North  America,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  of  a  series  of 
twenty  thousand  objects  gathered  by  the  author  in  Mercer  Co.,  New 


FLINT-CHIPS.  463 

Jersey,  forty-four  hundred  were  of  argillite,  and  of  such  rude  forms 
and  in  such  limited  varieties,  as  would  be  expected  of  the  productions 
of  a  less  cultured  people  than  the  Indian  of  the  Stone  Age.  Of  this 
series  of  forty-four  hundred,  two  hundred  and  thirty-three  are  well 
designed  drills  or  perforators  and  scrapers ;  the  others  being  spear- 
points,  fishing-spears,  arrowheads  and  knife-like  implements  —  not  so 
great  a  variety  of  patterns  as  are  now  made  by  the  Eskimo,  nor 
of  such  excellent  workmanship.  Although  it  is  true  of  these  imple 
ments  that  they  are  of  more  primitive  forms  and  therefore  probably  older 
than  the  objects  made  of  quartz  and  jasper,  the  argument  does  not  rest 
so  much  upon  this  greater  simplicity,  as  upon  their  decomposed  con 
dition,  their  occurrence  at  greater  depths  in  the  undisturbed  soil,  the 
greater  adaptability  of  the  spears  for  fishing  purposes,  and  the  absence 
of  all  indications  in  the  deeper  soils,  of  the  utilization  of  the  minerals 
habitually  used  by  the  later  Indians. 

For  these  reasons,  it  is  claimed  that  we  find  sufficient  evidence,  in 
them,  of  a  pre-Indian  people — believed  to  be  the  Eskimo — who, 
it  is  further  claimed,  are  the  direct  descendants  of  that  still  older 
race,  the  fabricators  of  the  palaeolithic  implements  of  the  river  drift. 

A  second  find  of  this  character  also  deserves  a  detailed  notice,  al 
though  it  has  already  been  referred  to  by  Professor  Wyman.  At  the 
time  of  its  discovery,  the  importance  of  carefully  noting  everything 
connected  with  it  was  not  recognized.  Professor  Wyman  195  was  fur 
nished  with  a  few  brief  notes  with  reference  to  the  specimens  gathered 
and  forwarded  to  him.  This  " open-air  workshop"  was  discovered 
near  Trenton,  N.  J.,  in  1872,  and  is  less  than  a  mile  distant  from  the 
one  previously  described.  It  is  situated  on  the  brow  of  a  hill,  or 
rather  of  a  plateau  margin,  where  it  is  broken  by  a  ravine  through 
which  flows  a  considerable  brook.  Originally  surrounded  on  two  sides 
by  a  dense  forest,  here  always  has  been  an  open  spot,  with  an  exten 
sive  southern  outlook  over  a  broad  expanse  of  meadow  extending 
from  the  foot  of  the  uplands  to  the  river.  When  discovered,  there 

195  Fifth  Annual  Report  Peabody  Museum,  p.  27. 


464  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

was  simply  a  shallow  depression  to  be  seen,  nearly  circular  in  outline 
and  about  ten  feet  in  diameter.  On  removing  a  thin  layer  of  vege 
table  mould,  through  which  projected  a  few  irregular  masses  of  yellow 
jasper,  there  were  found  a  large  quantity  of  thin  flakes,  chips,  and  a 
number  of  broken  arrowpoints,  especially  of  the  triangular  pattern. 
Of  the  latter  the  proportion  was  much  larger  than  in  the  preceding 
instance,  and  this  fact  may  indicate  that  the  workman  who  had  oper 
ated  here  was  either  less  skilful,  or  that  this  pattern  is  more  liable  to 
breakage,  which  seems  improbable.  The  accumulation  of  refuse,  in 
this  instance,  was  on  a  level  floor  of  compact  clay-earth,  about  which 
I  could  not  discover  a  trace  of  fire.  Separated  from  this  refuse,  by  a 
layer  of  earth  nearly  a  foot  in  depth,  there  occurred  a  somewhat 
similar  deposit,  except  that  cores  and  large  chips  only  were  found, 
with  no  trace  of  either  hammer-stones,  or  broken  or  unfinished  imple 
ments.  There  was  also  but  little  variety  of  mineral,  the  deposit  con 
sisting  exclusively  of  dark,  yellow-brown  jasper.  My  impression  is 
that  there  was  no  connection  between  the  two  finds,  but  that  the 
deeper  one  was  just  so  much  older  as  it  requires  years  for  some  eleven 
inches  of  soil  to  accumulate  in  a  forest,  where  the  growth  of  vegetable 
mould,  from  the  decay  of  the  annual  fall  of  foliage,  is  steadily  in 
progress. 

A  third  deposit  of  flint  chips  consists  of  a  series  of  some  fifty  spec 
imens  of  brown  jasper  of  quite  a  uniform  size  (P.  M.  14,706),  but 
which  in  the  character  of  the  fracture  differs  materially  from  both 
cores  and  flakes.  They  are  too  irregular  and  small  for  the  former, 
and  exhibit  no  regularity  in  the  flaking.  Still,  when  we  consider  that 
they  were  found  closely  packed  together,  and  buried  nearly  a  foot 
deep  in  a  meadow,  which  was  originally  swampy  ground,  it  is  evident 
that  they  were  designedly  buried,  but  for  what  purpose  it  is  difficult 
even  to  conjecture. 

It  may  be  well  here  to  state  that  the  three  deposits  just  described 
are  all  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  extensive  deposit  of  finished 
implements  to  which  reference  has  been  made  in  other  publications.196 

196 Annual  Report  of  Smithsonian  Institution  for  1875,  p.  272. 


FLINT-CHIPS.  465 

These  were  all  of  the  same  material,  and  identical  with  the  jasper 
fragments  here  mentioned.  If  the  former  were  made  at  the  spot  or 
near  where  they  were  found  buried,  this  later  find  of  fragments  may 
indeed  be  a  portion  of  the  refuse  accumulated  in  their  manufacture ; 
having  been  selected  for  converting  into  small  arrowpoints,  and  after 
wards  forgotten. 

An  interesting  feature  connected  with  these  accumulations  of  refuse 
is,  that  while  the  minerals  there  found  are  the  same  as  that  of  which 
the  great  bulk  of  arrowheads  and  other  implements  are  made,  there 
will  occasionally  be  met  with  a  specimen  of  an  arrowpoint,  or  fragment 
of  a  spear,  of  different  pattern  and  material,  such,  for  instance,  as  the 
extreme  point  or  barb  of  an  arrowpoint  of  obsidian ;  or,  it  may  be,  a 
fragment  of  jasper,  of  a  color  not  occurring  here,  yet  common  in  dis 
tant  southern  or  western  localities.  These  instances  are  numerous  and 
show  clearly  the  contact  of  different  and  distant  tribes  ;  for  what 
better  evidence  can  be  produced  to  show  that  an  implement  has  been 
brought,  either  through  the  vicissitudes  of  warfare,  or  through  barter, 
from  some  far-off  point,  than  to  find  that  all  trace  of  the  material,  of 
which  it  is  made,  is  wanting  in  the  heaps  of  refuse  ?  The  range  •  of 
patterns  of  all  our  chipped  implements  is  infinitely  varied,  and  it  needs 
but  a  glance  at  the  material  I  have  gathered  from  this  one  spot  to  show 
how  little  can  be  inferred  from  the  shape  of  any  specimen.  Scarcely 
a  European  pattern  except,  perhaps,  the  most  delicate  arrowpoints 
from  Denmark,  that  does  not  find  its  counterpart  here,  at  least  in  a  frag 
mentary  state.  In  some  instances  the  shapes  seem  to  have  been  deter 
mined  by  the  particular  use  for  which  the  implement  was  intended  ;  but 
in  vast  numbers  the  outline  was  determined  by  the  shape  of  the  chips, 
and  thus  originated  the  non-symmetrical  specimens  that  we  frequently 
find.  Some  of  these  are  so  crooked  that  their  availability  as  arrowpoints 
is  questionable,  and  they  may  have  been  used  as  knives.  In  the  territory 
of  every  petty  tribe  (and  every  creek  appears  to  have  had  one  such 
tribal  community  dwelling  in  its  valley),  there  is  seen  a  family  likeness, 
so  to  speak,  extending  through  the  whole  range  of  chipped  imple 
ments,  and  especially  among  the  arrow  and  spearheads  so  that  it  is  not 
30 


466 


PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 


difficult  to  pick  out  an  occasional  specimen,  and  set  it  aside  as  some 
thing  foreign. 

Having  already  incidentally  referred  to  the  chance  occurrence  of 
flakes  and  chips  upon  the  surface  of  the  ground,  it  is  well,  in  conclu 
sion,  to  refer  to  them  more  particularly,  as  it  is  possible  that,  collec 
tively,  they  may  have  more  significance  than  might  at  first  be  supposed. 
Jasper  flakes,  such  as  fig.  411,  occur  not  only  in  "open-air  workshop" 
sites,  but  on  the  surface  of  our  fields ;  while  flakes  of  other  minerals, 
more  especially  of  argillite,  also  occur  whenever  we  find  arrowpoints 
and  spearheads  of  the  same  mineral.  On  the  other  hand,  no  deposits 


FIG.  411.  —  New  Jersey.    •$-. 

of  argillite  chips  and  cores  have  been  discovered.  From  these  facts 
the  inference  may  be  drawn,  I  think,  that  as  argillite  flakes,  mostly  exhib 
iting  a  great  degree  of  weathering  of  their  surfaces,  are  associated  with 
finished  implements  of  the  same  material,  but  never  in  such  numbers 
as  to  indicate  the  spots  whereon  the  former  were  fabricated,  it  is  to  be 
supposed  that  as  flakes  they  were  put  to  some  use,  such  as  knives,  or 
if  very  small  and  not  too  irregular  in  outline,  as  arrowpoints.  Figs. 
412  and  413  are  examples  of  flakes  of  argillite  (P.  M.  9,008,  16,315) 
such  as  are  found  singly  on  our  fields.  In  general  outline,  fig.  412 
does  not  materially  differ  from  flint  flakes,  as  found  in  Europe ;  and 


FLINT-CHIPS.  467 

with  the  sharp  edge  that  this  mineral  presents,  when  freshly  fractured, 
it  certainly  is  well  adapted  to  cutting  such  yielding  substances  as  the 
skin  and  flesh  of  small  mammals,  and  to  scaling  and  cleaning  fish. 
Whether  fig.  413  could  be  used  as  an  arrowpoint,  or  is  to  be  looked 
upon  as  a  small  knife,  is  altogether  conjectural ;  and  yet  there  are  many 
ways  in  which  just  such  a  fragment  of  stone,  provided  the  edges  be 
sharp,  might  be  utilized.  The  same  character  of  flakes  (fig.  411  P.  M. 
14,629)  with  small  chips  of  jasper,  and  finished  implements  of  the 
same  mineral  being  likewise  scattered  singly  over  the  entire  area  of 
the  state,  must  therefore,  if  the  argillite  examples  are  not  misinter 
preted,  have  a  like  insignificance.  Considering  the  absence,  as  yet,  of 


FIG.  412.  —  New  Jersey,     y. 

sites  of  arrowmakers'  workshops,  where  argillite  was  exclusively  used, 
and  that  chipped  implements  of  this  mineral  are,  when  compared  with 
jasper,  characteristic  of  the  deeper  soils  wherever  the  virgin  earth  has 
been  examined ;  and  bearing  in  mind  also  that  argillite  is  a  living  rock 
in  the  vicinity,  while  jasper  and  the  allied  minerals,  of  which  the  bulk 
of  the  chipped  implements  are  fashioned,  occur  only  as  bowlders  in 
the  drift,  and  require  more  labor  to  gather  than  it  would  take  to  visit  a 
ledge  of  living  rock, —  it  is  safe  to  conclude  that  the  argillite  spears, 
arrowpoints  and  flakes,  as  a  class,  are  of  an  earlier  time  than  the  same 
implements  of  the  other  minerals,  and  doubtlessly  bear  a  closer  rela 
tionship  to  the  still  ruder — the  primitive  implements  found  in  the  river 


468 


PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 


drift  gravels  of  the  valley — than  they  do  to  those  made  of  jasper. 
Certainly,  if  fabricated  by  a  former  people,  or  even  by  their  own 
ancestors,  these  discarded  or  lost  implements  would  not  escape  the 
keen  vision  of  the  Indians,  few  of  whom  lacked  sufficient  skill  to 
repoint,  and  render  available  these  ruder  specimens  of  the  same  wea 
pons  to  which  they  were  accustomed. 

The  conclusion  might  readily  be  drawn  from  the  foregoing  that 
weapons  aad  implements  of  all  kinds,  chipped  from  stone,  were  made 
by  comparatively  few  persons,  who  supplied  the  people  of  their  respec 
tive  tribes  with  such  implements  as  they  required.  While  the  manu 
facture  of  the  finest  specimens  was  very  likely  confined  to  adepts,  who 


FIG.  413.  — New  Jersey.     \. 

made  it  the  business  of  their  lives,  it  is  probable  that  those  of  inferior 
finish,  which  are  found  scattered  over  the  state  and  mingled  with 
others  of  artistic  workmanship  were  made  by  hunters  or  warriors,  as 
the  case  might  be,  who  subsequently  lost  them.  However  occupied, 
whether  on  the  war-path  or  in  the  chase,  it  would  scarcely  be  possible 
for  a  warrior  or  a  hunter  to  supply  himself  with  as  great  a  number  of 
arrowheads  as  he  would  need,  even  for  a  few  weeks.  Vast  numbers 
unquestionably  were  lost  or  broken  when  first  discharged  from  the 
bow ;  and  when  we  consider  the  various  conditions  under  which  these 
same  arrowpoints  now  occur,  it  is  evident,  that  to  a  certain  extent, 
every  Indian  was  his  own  armorer.  Ornaments  and  stone  implements, 
whether  weapons  or  for  domestic  purposes,  were  of  careful  or  careless 


FLINT-CHIPS.  469 

finish — and  we  find  both  patterns — as  their  owner  happened  to  be 
proud  or  indifferent,  or  possibly  neat  or  slovenly.  A  ground  edge  to 
an  oval  pebble  being  required,  the  subsequent  shaping  of  the  other 
portion  of  the  implement  might  be  gradually  accomplished,  if  the 
implement  itself  were  used  without  a  handle  or  could  be  readily  sepa 
rated  from  it.  Such  shaping,  by  grinding  away  all  irregularities,  was 
at  best  a  slow  process,  and  one  very  unlikely  to  be  followed  as  a  means 
of  livelihood.  When  therefore,  we  find  a  beautifully  polished  and 
symmetrically  fashioned  celt  we  probably  have  a  proof  of  the  patience 
and  skill  of  its  original  owner ;  and  any  one,  with  the  exercise  of  the 
same  patience  and  skill,  could  soon  learn  to  chip  from  flint  his  own 
arrowpoints,  knives  and  spears. 


CHAPTER   XXXII. 


PALAEOLITHIC  IMPLEMENTS. 


WE  have  now  to  consider  a  class  of  objects,  which,  though  bearing 
marked  resemblance  to  the  ruder  forms  of  Indian  or  neolithic  imple 
ments,  from  their  uniformity  of  manufacture,  their  identity  of  mate 
rial,  their  slight  variation  in  design,  and  their  occurrence  in  an  older 
geological  formation  than  the  present  surface  soils,  are  believed  to  be 
veritable  traces  of  a  people,  who  inhabited  the  northern  Atlantic  sea 
board  of  America,  prior  to  the  advent  of  the  Indian ;  if  we  accept 
the  current  opinion  that  the  latter  was  a  comparatively  recent  comer  to 
our  shores. 

Before  passing  to  a  detailed  description  of  a  series  of  these  earliest 
traces  of  man,  it  will  be  necessary  to  refer  briefly  to  the  physical  char 
acter  of  the  river  valley  in  which  these  implements  have  been  found. 
This  is  the  more  necessary  because  having  been  seriously  misled197  by 
the  various  geological  reports  that  purport  to  give,  in  proper  sequence, 
the  respective  ages  of  the  several  strata  of  clay,  gravel,  bowlders 
and  sand,  through  which  the  river  has  finally  worn  its  channel  to  the 
ocean  level,  I  have  probably,  in  previous  publications,  ascribed  too 
great  an  antiquity  to  these  implements,  although  what  is  now  known 
to  be  a  substantially  correct  history  of  the  various  deposits  in  the  river 
valley  does  not  dissociate  these  traces  of  man  from  a  time  when  essen 
tially  glacial  conditions  existed  in  the  upper  valley  of  the  Delaware 


197  American  Naturalist,  vol.  vii,  p.  204,  figs.  37  and  38,  Salem,  Mass.  1873:  and  vol.  x,  p.  329 
fig.  21,  Boston,  Mass.,  1876. 

Also:  Tenth  Annual  Report  of  Peabody  Museum,  Cambridge,  Mass.,  p.  30,  figs,  i,  2  and  3;  and 
Eleventh  Annual  Report,  same  institution,  p.  223,  figs,  i  to  4,  inclusive.  Cambridge,  Mass.,  1878- 

(471) 


472  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

river,  though  they  occurred  subsequently  to  the  existence  of  the  great 
continental  glacier,  when  at  its  greatest  magnitude. 

It  was  not  until  the  surface  geology  of  the  Delaware  river  valley  was 
carefully  studied  by  Mr.  Henry  Carvill  Lewis,  of  the  2nd  Geological 
Survey  of  Pennsylvania,  that  we  were  in  possession  of  all  the  facts 
necessary  to  enable  us  to  recognize  the  full  significance  of  those  early 
traces  of  man,  discovered  in  one  of  the  latest  geological  formations  of 
this  valley. 

The  results  of  Mr.  Lewis'  studies  are  embodied  in  two  communi 
cations  198  to  the  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences  of  Philadelphia  ;  but 
to  these,  but  brief  reference  will  be  made,  as  their  author  has  kindly 
prepared  for  this  volume,  an  able  abstract  of  his  earlier  papers,  and 
added  thereto,  the  results  of  his  later  investigations. 

It  is  sufficient  here  to  state  that,  according  to  Mr.  Lewis,  "the  last 
and  newest  of  all  the  gravels" — in  the  valley  of  the  Delaware  river — 
"is  one  which,  at  Philadelphia,  seemed  to  be  of  little  importance.  It 
lies  close  along  the  river ;  and,  rising  a  few  feet  above  it,  extends  but 
a  short  distance  back  from  the  river  bank.  It  covers  the  flat  ground 
of  Camden  arid  the  lower  part  of  Philadelphia,  and  forms  islands  in 
the  river.  It  was  called  the  River  gravel  and  sand.  It  is  this  alluvial 
gravel,  the  latest,  except  the  recent  mud-flats,  of  all  the  surface  forma 
tions,  *  *  *  *  which,  from  its  great  development  farther  up  the  river, 
is  now  named  the  Trenton  Gravel.  It  is  in  this  *  *  *  *  gravel 
only,  that  traces  of  man  have  been  found. " 

This  deposit  of  gravel  has  also  been  described  in  full,  by  Prof.  Geo. 
H.  Cook,199  who  says  :  "'The  beds  of  stratified  drift,  at  various  places 
in  the  valley  of  the  Delaware,  south  of  the  line  of  glacial  drift,  bear 
marks  of  having  originated  from  the  action  of  water.  The  bowlders 
and  cobble  stones  are  all  water-worn,  and  round,  and  are  not  scratched 


198  The  Surface  Geology  of  Philadelphia  and  vicinity:    Proceedings  of  the  Mineralogical  and 
Geological  Section,  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  Nov.,  1878. 

Also  the  Trenton  Gravel  and  its  Relations  to  the  Antiquity  of  Man.     Philadelphia,  Pa.,  Nov., 
1879. 

199  Annual  Report  of  the  State  Geologist  of  New  Jersey  for  1877,  p.  21 ;  Trenton,  N.  J.,  1877. 


PALEOLITHIC    IMPLEMENTS.  473 

or  streaked.  They  have  all  come  from  places  farther  north  in  the 
valley  and  have  been  moved  and  deposited  by  powerful  currents. 
There  are  to  be  seen  in  the  railroad  cuts  near  Trenton,  where  the  ex 
posure  of  this  kind  of  drift  is  very  fine,  bowlders  of  gneiss,  from  the 
rock  near ;  of  red  sandstone  from  the  country  just  north ;  of  trap  from 
Lambertville  ;  of  altered  shales  from  the  near  trap  ;  of  conglomerate 
from  New  Milford  ;  of  magnesian  limestone  from  the  valleys  of  Warren 
county ;  of  conglomerates  from  the  Blue  Mountain,  and  of  cherty 
and  fossiliferous  limestones  from  the  Delaware  valley  north  of  the 
Water  Gap.  The  gravel  consists  largely  of  quartz,  but  it  contains 
numerous  fragments  of  red  shale,  and  black  slate." 

This  is  a  correct  description  of  this  drift  material,  except  in  one 
most  important  particular.  It  is  an  error  to  state  that  all  the  bowlders 
and  smaller  pebbles  are  water- worn,  and  that  none  are  angular.  There 
is,  it  is  true,  but  a  small  proportion  of  scratched  pebbles  or  bowlders, 
but  there  are  a  large  number  of  sharp,  angular  stones.  No  such  uni 
formity  of  size,  shape  and  smoothness  of  surface  as  characterizes  the 
pebbles  of  our  ocean  beaches,  is  found  to  exist. 

Prof.  Geikie  has  described,  as  characteristic  of  all  the  river  valleys 
in  England,  that  the  upper  levels  consist  of  coarser  material  than  the 
lower,  "  and  frequently  contain  large  blocks  of  stone  which  could  only 
have  been  transported  by  river-ice  ; "  while  the  lower  level  gravels  are 
usually  of  finer  grained  character,  and  that  these  "  seemed  to  point  to 
a  milder  condition  of  things — to  a  time  when  the  rivers  were  less 
liable  to  flood,  and  the  ice-rafts  were  uncommon"  ( "Great  Ice  Age," 
American  ed.,  p.  435).  An  examination  of  the  bed,  as  now  exposed 
on  the  bank  of  the  Delaware  river,  shows  that  no  such  distinction  can 
here  be  drawn.  By  actual  count,  in  a  section  measured  off,  there  did 
not  occur  more  large  bowlders  above  the  line  equally  dividing  the  bluff, 
than  below  it ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  there  were  three  more  beneath,  not 
counting  those  that  had  rolled  from  the  bed  down  to  the  water's  edge. 
This  of  itself  would  be  by  no  means  conclusive  ;  but  upon  frequent 
inquiry  of  men  who  had  sunk  wells  and  excavated  cellars,  it  became 
evident  that  these  bowlders  were  met  with  in  greater  abundance,  at 


474  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

considerable  depth,  rather  than  near  the  surface.  This  irregularity  of 
their  occurrence  and  position  is  of  itself  indicative  of  the  agency  of 
ice  in  the  origin  of  the  deposit.  Mr.  Lewis,  however,  has  informed 
me,  that  he  thinks,  if  the  entire  area  of  the  Trenton  gravels  be  con 
sidered,  that  this  gravel  "  is  certainly  characterized  by  bowlders  on  top, 
resting  upon  finer  material,  as  an  examination  of  the  railroad  cut  at 
Trenton  will  show."  My  own  impressions  were  that  this  was  not 
the  case,  and  I  therefore  give  the  reader  the  benefit  of  the  conclusions, 
on  this  point,  of  a  competent  geologist,  allowing  my  own  statements, 
as  originally  published  (Peabody  Museum  Reports,  vol.  ii,  p.  226), 
to  remain  unaltered. 

These  large  bowlders  are  also  met  with  upon  the  surface.  Many  of 
them  have  been  very  carefully  examined  in  situ,  and  it  was  evident 
that  they  were  not  deposited  with  the  gravel  beneath  them,  and  the 
latter  subsequently  removed  by  rapidly  running  water,  for  in  nearly 
every  instance,  there  was  a  foot  or  more  of  sand  between  the  lower 
surface  of  the  stone  and  the  gravel,  and  this  layer  of  sand  extended  so 
far  beyond  the  limits  of  the  bowlder,  that  unquestionably  it  must  have 
been  slowly  accumulated  prior  to  the  deposition  of  the  bowlder ;  as 
evidence  of  this,  a  well  chipped,  spear-shaped  implement  was  found 
in  such  a  stratum,  immediately  beneath  a  stone  that  would  weigh  at 
least  half  a  ton.  These  surface  bowlders  undoubtedly  have  been 
dropped  from  ice-rafts,  together  with  sand  and  gravel,  the  ice  then 
floating  over  a  broad  expanse  of  country,  in  comparatively  quiet  waters. 

In  the  Annual  Report  for  1877,  of  Professor  Cook,  State  Geol 
ogist  of  New  Jersey,  we  find  an  excellent  map,  and  a  detailed  account 
of  the  glacial  drift  that  covers  the  northern  portion  of  the  state  and 
consists  of  unstratified  bowlder  clay  and  ice-scratched,  angular  pebbles. 
Where  the  debris  of  the  ancient  glacier  ceases  to  be  of  this  character, 
Professor  Cook  considers  the  glacier  terminated,  and  all  the  material 
lying  to  the  southward  as  a  modified  deposit  due  exclusively  to  water 
action. 

Of  the  great  glacier  itself,  Dr.  Cook  remarks,  in  the  report  alluded 
to,  "even  in  New  Jersey,  it  covered  the  tops  of  the  highest  mountains. 


PALAEOLITHIC    IMPLEMENTS.  475 

"This  immense  mass  of  ice  had  a  slow  movement  from  the  north 
towards  the  south,  in  which  it  scraped  or  tore  off  the  earth  and  rocks 
from  the  rocky  mass  under  it,  grinding,  grooving  and  smoothing  down 
the  rocky  surface,  and  pushing  forward,  tumbling  and  rounding  the 
fragments  of  stone  and  rock,  and  finally  leaving  thern  at  the  southern 
edge  of  the  glacier,  or  wherever  breaks  in  it  may  have  allowed  the 
loose  materials  to  rest. 

"The  terminal  or  southern  edge  of  the  drift  is  well  and  very  plainly 
marked  by  a  line  of  hillocks  of  mixed  clay,  sand,  gravel,  rounded 
stones  and  bowlders  of  large  size." 

Of  its  extent,  geographically  considered,  he  further  remarks  of  it, 
as  "beginning  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  State  on  the  north  side  of  the 
Raritan,  at  Perth  Amboy,  the  line  of  Short  Hills  extending  from  that 
place  to  the  First  Mountain,  and  passing  just  north  of  Metuchen, 
Plainfield  and  Scotch  Plains,  marks  the  southern  edge  of  the  drift. 

"From  there,  it  extends  to  the  Delaware  below  Belvidere.  The 
portion  near  the  Delaware  shows  the  gravel  and  bowlders  very  plainly, 
but  it  appears  to  have  been  washed  and  otherwise  modified  by  floods 
or  great  bodies  of  water  descending  in  that  valley.  The  whole  line 
of  this  moraine  is  remarkably  plain  and  well  defined. 

"Across  New  Jersey  the  line  is  not  exactly  east  and  west,  but  appears 
to  deviate  towards  the  north,  the  deviation  being  greater  somewhat  in 
proportion  as  the  ground  is  more  elevated. 

'The  hillocks  of  stones,  gravel  and  earth,  which  together  made  mis 
long  chain,  have  every  appearance  of  piles  of  debris  which  have  been 
thrown  down  without  order,  and  without  the  presence  of  water  to  sort 
or  arrange  the  various  materials. " 

Nowhere,  as  here  described,  does  the  terminal  moraine  of  the  great 
glacier  approach  the  bluff  at  Trenton  nearer  than  sixty  miles,  or  fol 
lowing  the  valley  of  the  river,  fully  seventy  miles ;  but  these  distances 
are  really  of  little  moment,  in  connection  with  the  subject  of  man's 
presence  here  during  the  maximum  severity  of  glacial  conditions  in 
North  America.  With  the  existence  of  a  glacier  filling  the  entire 
valley  of  the  Delaware,  sixty  miles  northward,  and  extending  across 


476  PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 

the  state  to  the  Atlantic  coast,  there  must  necessarily  have  been  a 
widely  different  physical  condition  of  the  entire  territory  extending 
southward.  A  large  part  of  this  area,  now  constituting  the  southern, 
low-lying  portion  of  the  state,  was  submerged ;  and  Mr.  Belt  20°  has 
pointed  out,  that  over  such  low-lying  and  submerged  areas,  there 
would  be  spread  out  a  vast  amount  of  material,  by  the  agency  of  sub- 
glacial  torrents,  consisting  of  the  true  glacial  debris,  borne  still  farther 
southward  by  the  currents  caused  by  the  melting  of  the  glacier  at  and 
near  its  base.  Such  swift-flowing  currents  might  readily,  through  long 
periods  of  time,  being  charged  with  sand  and  small  pebbles,  wear 
away  much  of  the  ice-scratching  that  is  so  characteristic  of  the  pebbles 
in  the  more  northern  drift ;  but  to  such  sub-glacial  rivers  we  cannot 
well  refer  the  enormous  bowlders  scattered  promiscuously  through  the 
gravel  deposits,  as  seen  at  Trenton,  that  must  be  ascribed  to  the  more 
powerful  agency  of  floating  masses  of  ice  detached  from  the  glacier 
existing  farther  to  the  north. 

What  has  been  here  ascribed,  by  the  late  Mr.  Belt,  to  the  action  of 
sub-glacial  streams,  doubtless  took  place  at  a  much  earlier  date  than 
the  deposition  of  the  gravel,  through  which  flows  the  shrunken  river 
of  to-day.  These  accumulations  of  gravel  are,  it  is  much  more  prob 
able,  as  Mr.  Lewis  has  shown,  of  a  character  that  requires  the  aid  of 
floating  ice  to  transport  the  larger  bowlders. 

These  masses  of  floating  ice,  as  Mr.  Lewis  believes,  having  displaced 
the  older  clay  and  bowlder  deposit,  in  great  part,  from  the  valley  at 
Trenton,  and  southward,  and  worn  a  deep  basin  through  it,  the  present 
river,  then  a  glacial  stream,  brought  by  the  aid  of  floating  ice  enor 
mous  quantities  of  material  from  the  terminal  moraine  of  the  conti 
nental  ice-sheet  and  re-filled  the  valley  created  by  the  removal  of  the 
older  clay  and  gravel.  During  the  accumulation  of  this  later  gravel, 
man  must  have  occupied  the  adjacent  land,  and  there  existed  no 
physical  reasons  why  he  should  not  have  done  so.  However  recent, 
the  careful  studies  of  the  geologist  may  ultimately  determine  these 

200  Quarterly  Jour,  of  Sci.,  Jan.,  1878:  London. 


PALAEOLITHIC    IMPLEMENTS.  477 

gravels  to  be,  there  need  be  no  relinquishment  of  the  belief  in  the 
archaeologically  great  antiquity  of  the  traces  of  man  found  in  it. 

Admitting,  without  doubt,  that  the  sequence  of  conditions  resulting 
in  the  various  superficial  deposits  from  the  later  tertiary  to  past-glacial 
times,  as  determined  by  Mr.  Lewis,  there  is  to  be  considered  the  im 
portant  fact  that  the  minimum  time  required  for  the  deposition  of  the 
Trenton  gravels  was  riot  necessarily  the  actual  length  of  time  during 
which  these  accumulations  were  completed.  In  all  such  cases,  it  must 
be  borne  in  mind,  that  rapidity  and  regularity  of  action  are  not  con 
stant  factors  of  the  conditions  that  result  in  geological  formations. 
Further,  the  supposed  second  glaciation  of  the  Delaware  valley,  limited 
as  it  may  have  been,  and  comparatively  of  short  duration,  was  yet  an 
event  of  remote  antiquity,  as  man  measures  the  events  of  time.  Not 
simply  a  few  centuries  ago,  was  the  river  the  mighty  stream  that  Mr. 
Lewis  describes,  when  the  vast  beds  of  this  "recent"  gravel  were 
deposited.  Long  vanished,  indeed,  may  have  been  every  vestige  of 
the  earlier,  continental  glacier — but  what  of  the  interim,  between  the 
disappearance  of  the  former  and  the  appearance  of  the  supposed 
latter?  Can  we  assume  that  the  events  of  the  accumulation  of  gravel 
on  gravel,  clay  on  clay,  removal  of  earlier  and  deposition  of  later 
strata,  occurred  without  a  break  ?  We  read  of  them  as  following  each 
other  in  a  given  order,  but  seldom  pause  to  think  how  long  a  time 
might  have  elapsed  between  these  several  occurrences. 

Finally,  as  bearing  on  the  one  important  question  of  man's  antiquity, 
it  is  here  strenuously  maintained  that  the  forces  that  caught  up  these 
later  gravels  also  gathered,  in  part,  the  rude  implements  that  now  give 
such  interest  to  the  deposit.  It  is  evident  from  the  condition  of  some, 
and  the  depth  at  which  many  are  found,  that  they  were  made  prior  to 
the  formation  of  the  containing  bed,  and  were  lost  or  discarded  when 
the  floods  swept  down  the  valley.  Surely,  we  are  without  warrant  in 
assuming  that  only  after  the  last  pebble  was  in  place,  that  man  ap 
peared,  and  dropping  these  implements  in  the  water,  they  sank  into 
the  gravelly  bed  of  the  river,  even  to  a  depth  of  forty  feet. 

Admitting  that  man  was  not  interglacial,  and  is  more  recent  than 


478  PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 

the  epoch  of  the  brick  clays  described  by  Mr.  Lewis,  he  surely  may 
have  been  an  occupant  of  the  Atlantic  seaboard  before  the  total  dis 
appearance  of  the  glacier  farther  north.  Whether  this  glacier  is  a  first 
or  second  occurrence  of  this  phenomenon  cannot  yet  be  positively 
determined. 

Whatever  the  changes  that  may  have  taken  place  during  the  glacial 
epoch,  there  is  no  evidence  that  the  land  now  constituting  the  southern 
portion  of  New  Jersey  was  uninhabitable,  long  prior  to  the  deposition 
of  the  implement-bearing  gravels.  There  is  abundant  evidence,  on 
the  contrary,  to  show  that  it  was  inhabited  in  preglacial  times  by  a 
number  of  the  larger  mammals,  including  the  mastodon;  which,  it 
should  be  remarked,  lived  long  after  the  disappearance  of  every  vestige 
of  glacial  conditions.  There  seems  no  reason,  therefore,  for  excluding 
man. 

No  floods  arising  from  the  melting  of  the  great  glacier  or  con 
tinental  ice-sheet,  submerged  the  portion  of  the  state,  which  extended 
seaward  miles  beyond  the  present  boundary,201  as  Mr.  Lewis  has  shown 
beyond  question,  and  the  absence  of  traces  of  man  in  the  older  glacial 


201  It  is  well  known  that  there  is  now  in  progress  a  gradual  subsidence  of  all  the  lands  along  the 
tide-waters  of  New  Jersey,  How  long  ago  this  commenced  is  not  readily  determined.  This 
depression  and  elevation  is  believed  to  be  within  a  range  of  twenty  feet;  but  even  this  amount  of 
elevation  would  materially  increase  the  area  of  the  state.  Not  unfrequently  fragments  of  cedar 
trees  which  are  derived  from  forests  now  covered  by  the  ocean,  are  thrown  upon  the  beach,  during 
violent  storms,  and  remains  of  the  mastodon  have  likewise  been  found,  that  are,  with  reason,  be 
lieved  to  have  been  washed  from  these  same  sunken  forests.  In  an  interesting  lecture  by  my 
friend,  Dr.  Maurice  Beesley  of  Cape  May  Co.,  I  find  the  following  statements,  which  have  a 
direct  bearing  upon  this  subject,  and  clearly  show  how  vast  an  area  has  been  lost  in  the  last  few 
centuries  by  the  encroachments  of  the  sea,  all  of  which,  in  palaeolithic  times,  was  habitable  land. 

"  We  find,  likewise,  that  Egg  Island,  twelve  miles  from  our  shores,  was  surveyed  by  Budd  and 
Worlidge  in  1691,  and  taken  up,  as  per  their  draft  for  Thomas  Budd,  a  Quaker  gentleman  of  Bur 
lington,  N.  J.,  for  300  acres  full  measure.  My  father,  Thomas  Beesley,  has  related  to  me  that 
when  he  followed  the  water  from  1790  to  1800  it  contained  about  Go  acres.  Here  we  have  a  loss  of 
240  acres  in  a  century.  In  1830  gunners  went  from  our  place  to  Egg  Island  to  kill  geese,  which 
frequent  those  meadows  in  great  abundance,  and  were  very  successful.  This  Island  made  a  final 
disappearance  about  twenty  years  ago,  and  vessels  now  sail  over  the  entire  area  it  formerly  occu 
pied.  To  throw  its  former  area  of  300  acres  into  a  circular  form  we  find  the  wash  has  been  a  rod 
a  year  since  1691  up  to  the  time  of  its  final  disappearance.  Therefore,  the  loss  on  the  east  side 
of  Maurice  river  cove  having  been  one  and  a  half  rods  a  year,  and  on  the  west  side  one  rod,  we 


PALEOLITHIC   IMPLEMENTS.  479 

drift  indicates,  it  may  be,  that  he  never  dwelt  in  preglacial  times  upon 
that  portion  of  the  country  over  which  this  drift  was  carried,  and 
northward  of  the  terminal  moraines,  but,  of  itself,  offers  no  reason  why 
he  should  not  have  lived,  so  long  ago,  in  the  territory  beyond  the 
reach  of  glacial  conditions. 

Whether  the  view  taken  by  Professor  Cook,  that  the  Trenton  gravels 
are  of  glacial  origin  and  derived  from  floods  caused  by  the  melting  of 
this  great  continental  ice-sheet,  or  are  an  indication  of  a  post-glacial 
condition,  subsequent  to  the  great  glacier,  as  considered  probable 
by  Mr.  Lewis,  the  fact  remains,  that  these  implements  are  indica 
tive  of  man's  presence,  and  have  been  placed  in  their  present  posi- 

have  a  loss  per  annum  of  two  and  a  half  rods  between  those  shores,  and  as  the  distance  between 
Egg  Island  light  and  the  mouth  of  Dennis  creek  is  now  estimated  at  twelve  miles,  we  find  it  must 
have  been  solid  land  or  meadow  that  whole  distance,  with  the  exception  of  creeks  and  rivers,  1536 
years  ago,  or  A.  D.  343.  That  the  whole  extent  of  Maurice  river  cove  was  originally  meadow 
seems  plausible,  from  the  fact  that  a  muddy  bottom  exists  throughout  its  widespread  limits. 

"  From  the  present  mouth  of  East  creek,  when  the  tides  fall  out  low,  a  range  of  oyster  beds  can 
be  traced  for  more  than  a  mile  into  the  bay,  being  the  original  bed  of  the  creek.  In  fact  Christo 
pher  Ludlam,  father  of  Charles  Ludlam,  Esq.,  located  40  acres  of  meadows  in  1801  on  the  western 
side  of  said  creek,  which  from  the  minutes  of  the  deed  ran  up  it  a  straight  course  100  perches  to 
a  ditch  passing  westward  from  the  creek  at  right  angles.  In  1869  I  visited  the  spot  and  found 
the  whole  tract  of  40  acres  had  been  swallowed  up  by  the  capacious  maw  of  the  bay,  and  exists 
only  in  the  shape  of  atoms.  Therefore,  if  100  rods  has  been  washed  away  in  sixty-eight  years,  we 
find  the  average  loss  one  and  a  half  rods  a  year,  as  before  stated. 

"Dennis  creek,  according  to  a  survey  made  in  1767  by  Aaron  Learning,  the  sd,  and  re-surveyed 
by  Learning  M.  Rice  and  the  writer  in  1867,  has  lost  150  rods  during  the  century.  As  the  "  reach  " 
that  disappeared  in  that  time  ran  a  southwest  cousre,  running  diagonally  with  the  direct  course  of 
the  150  rods  loss,  the  mouth  of  Dennis  creek  must  have  been  about  three-fourths  of  a  mile  nearer 
to  the  mouth  of  Goshen  creek  than  at  present.  As  this  loss  of  soil  still  continues,  where  no  gravel 
exists,  it  is  evident  the  farmers  of  East  creek  neighborhood  will  have  the  waters  of  Delaware  bay 
dashing  against  their  homesteads  in  the  course  of  three  or  four  centuries  more. 

"  This  wash  is  not  confined  exclusively  to  the  bay  shore.  At  Cape  May  City  by  ancient  deeds 
made  in  1689,  the  distance  across  the  Island,  from  the  beach  to  the  creek,  was  265  rods.  Is  it 
half  that  distance  at  the  present  time?  For  many  years  past,  barriers  have  been  erected  to  prevent 
further  encroachments.  Those  of  you  who  are  familiar  with  the  seaboard,  will  have  seen  along 
our  beaches  after  heavy  storms  and  tides  the  meadow-land  jutting  out  oceanward  with  the  salt  grass 
still  adhering  to  it,  as  it  was  two  or  three  centuries  before,  when  first  enveloped  by  the  westward 
movement  of  the  beach.  I  well  remember,  likewise,  large  creeks  upon  our  beaches  that  have  been 
submerged  and  lost  to  view,  probably  forever,  through  this  gradual  change  of  soil,  and  through  the 
intervention  of  the  winds,  and  the  waters  of  old  ocean  constantly  encroaching  upon  and  frittering 
away  our  territorial  bounds." 


480  PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 

tions,  varying  from  three  to  forty  feet  in  depth,  by  the  same  agency 
that  laid  down  the  gravels  ;  and  in  either  case  we  are  carried  back  to 
a  time  when  a  bed  of  bowlders,  sand  and  gravel,  of  many  feet  in 
thickness,  was  laid  down,  and  subsequently  a  channel  worn  through 
it,  until  the  waters  of  the  river  reached  the  level  of  the  sea,  and  all 
accumulation  of  other  material  than  sand  and  silt  practically  ceased. 
From  that  time  until  the  present,  how  many  centuries  may  have 
elapsed  !  Although  brought  to  the  near  present — to  but  yesterday, 
geologically  speaking,  we  have  yet  to  consider,  that  since  the  last 
bowlder  found  its  present  resting  place,  there  have  accumulated  in  the 
present  flood  plain  of  the  river,  vast  beds  of  sand  and  mud,  charged 
and  recharged  with  vegetable  growths,  that  overlie  much  of  this  later 
gravel,  and  ihis  also  contains  more  highly  wrought  evidences  of  man's 
presence,  themselves  suggestive  of  a  considerable  antiquity. 

Professor  Cook  202  very  accurately  describes  the  appearance  of  the 
river  drift.  In  a  late  annual  report  he  remarks,  "there  are  a  number 
of  terraces,  on  ground  open  towards  the  sea,  which  have  their  upper 
surfaces  almost  at  equal  heights  above  tide  level.  The  terrace  on 
both  sides  of  the  Pennsylvania  railroad,  near  Trenton  depot,  is  one 
of  them.  It  is  between  fifty  and  sixty  feet  high.  The  gravel  bed  at 
the  railway  depot  at  New  Brunswick  and  also  that  on  Bayard  street 
are  nearly  the  same  level.  The  terraces  at  the  Narrows  in  New  York 
harbor  are  also  on  the  same  level,  and  others  along  the  west  bank  of 
the  Passaic,  in  Newark,  are  of  nearly  the  same  height.  It  can  also  be 
recognized  along  Bergen  Hill,  both  on  the  North  river  and  the  Newark 
bay  sides.  Up  the  North  river,  near  Peekskill,  similar  terraces  are 
very  conspicuous,  but  their  height  above  tide  is  about  ninety  feet.  In 
New  Jersey,  in  the  more  southern  part,  terraces  are  seen,  but  they  are 
at  a  somewhat  lower  level.  The  whole  of  them  taken  together  indi 
cate  that  at  some  former  time,  perhaps  at  the  close  of  the  glacial 
period,  the  ocean  level  was  somewhat  higher  than  it  is  now,  enough 
higher  to  bring  it  just  over  the  tops  of  these  terraces,  and  water 

202  Cook.     Annual  Report  of  State  Geologist  for  1878,  p.  22.     Trenton,  N.  J.,  1878. 


PALAEOLITHIC   IMPLEMENTS.  481 

bringing  stones  and  earth  from  the  higher  ground  would  deposit  them, 
when  it  reached  sea  level,  in  these  steep  flat-topped  terraces.  The 
terrace  at  Trenton  is  just  where  the  valley  of  the  Delaware  comes 
down  to  this  level,  and  where  it  widens  out  to  allow  room  for  such  a 
deposit  to  accumulate.  These  are  good  examples  of  terraces  of  the 
Cham  plain  Period." 

In  this  brief  extract  from  the  report  on  the  surface  geology  of  New 
Jersey,  its  author,  it  will  be  seen,  refers  all  the  evidences  of  combined 
ice  and  water  action  to  the  glacial  epoch,  or  not  later  than  a  period 
constituting  its  close;  and  further  shows  that  his  view  is  that  the 
Trenton  gravel  is  an  ocean  terrace,  made  by  water  which  covered  all 
southern  New  Jersey.  This  is,  unquestionably,  wholly  an  erroneous 
view.203  Reference  to  the  map  accompanying  Mr.  Lewis'  paper  shows, 
that  the  gravels  that  surround  the  Trenton  gravels  had  emerged  from 
the  ocean  level  long  previous  to  the  deposition  of  the  latest  or  Trenton 
gravels. 

Personally,  I  can  but  express  an  opinion  on  the  archaeological  sig 
nificance  of  the  traces  of  man  found  associated  with  these  gravel  de 
posits,  and  this  is  in  nowise  affected  by  the  age  and  origin  of  the 
containing  beds.  Whatever  age  the  geologists  may  assign  to  them,  be 
it  inter-  or  post-glacial,  these  traces  of  man  must  possess  a  very  great 
antiquity. 

It  is  evident  that,  at  just  such  a  locality  as  Trenton,  where  the  river 
"widens  out,"  traces  of  man,  had  he  existed  during  the  accumu 
lation  of  the  gravel,  would  be  most  likely  to  occur.  This  is  true  not 
only  because  there  is  here  the  greatest  mass  of  the  gravel,  and  the 
best  opportunities  for  examining  it  in  section ;  but  the  locality  would 
be  one  most  favorable  for  the  existence  of  man,  at  the  time.  The 
higher  ground  in  the  immediate  vicinity  was  sufficiently  elevated  to  be 
free  from  the  encroachments  of  both  ice  and  water,  and  the  climate, 

103  Since  the  above  was  in  type,  a  late  report  by  Professor  Cook  has  been  issued,  in  which  he 
expresses  views  somewhat  at  variance  with  his  earlier  reports,  and  to  a  great  extent  in  accordance 
with  the  views  expressed  in  an  article  on  these  gravels,  by  Prof.  H.  C.  Lewis,  in  the  Proceedings 
of  the  Philadelphia  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences. 


482  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

soil  and  fauna,  all  such  as  to  make  it  possible  for  man  to  exist,  at 
this  time,  in  this  locality.  As  Professor  Cook,  in  this  same  report  on 
page  14  has  said  :  "It  is  difficult  to  get  a  clear  cona  tion  of  the  con 
dition  of  things  which  would  have  allowed  the  whole  surface  to  become 
covered  with  thick  ice,  when  that  surface  was  nearly  as  it  is  now,  and 
some  points  are  not  satisfactorily  explained.  It  can  be  understood, 
however,  that  extreme  cold  was  not  necessary,  for  we  see  forests,  pas 
tures  and  grain  fields  about  the  lower  ends  of  the  present  glaciers. 
There  has  been  found  in  the  terrace  of  modified  drift  at  Trenton  the 
tusk  of  a  mastodon,  which  was  evidently  washed  there  when  that  mass 
of  matter  came  down  the  valley  of  the  Delaware  with  the  torrents  of 
water  from  the  melting  ice.  It  was  about  fourteen  feet  under  the  sur 
face,  and  the  gravel  and  stones  were  partially  stratified  over  it.  From 
these  the  inference  seems  plain  that  the  climate  at  that  time  admitted 
of  the  growth  of  animals  like  the  elephant  in  size  and  habits.  What 
ever  theories  or  hypotheses  may  be  adopted  in  regard  to  glaciers,  the 
piles  and  other  deposits  of  loose  bowlders,  gravel,  sand  and  clay  and 
the  scratched  rocks  under  them,  which  are  found  everywhere  in  north 
ern  New  Jersey,  are  wonderfully  like  the  deposits  which  are  made  by 
modern  glaciers,  and  there  is  scarcely  a  feature  in  one  but  what  can 
be  paralleled  in  the  other." 

When  we  consider  that  not  only  the  remains  of  the  mastodon,  but 
those  of  the  bison  have  been  found  in  this  gravel,  and  that  within  a 
few  yards  of  the  spot  where  the  tusk  of  the  mastodon  mentioned  by 
Professor  Cook,  was  found,  palaeolithic  implements  have  been  gathered, 
one  at  the  same,  and  three  at  greater  depths,  it  is  apparent  that  we 
here  have  evidence  of  man's  contemporaneity  on  the  Atlantic  coast, 
with  the  large  mammals  mentioned. 

Certainly,  it  cannot  be  assumed  that  these  mammalian  bones  were 
derived  from  the  terminal  moraine,  where  they  were,  at  the  time  of 
their  displacement,  veritable  fossils,  and  therefore  their  present  asso 
ciation  with  human  implements  is  merely  accidental — that  the  pebbles 
and  bowlders,  being  older  than  the  relics  of  man,  found  with  them,  so 
also  are  the  bones  of  those  mammals  which  no  longer  belong  to  the 


PALEOLITHIC   IMPLEMENTS. 


483 


fauna  of  this  region.     If  the  bones  found  in  this  gravel  were  petrifac 
tions,  and  had   all   the    characteristic   marks   of  water-worn  pebbles 
clearly  traceable  upon  them,  it  might,  then,  be  admitted  that  their 
present  association   did   not   show  any  evidence  of  equal  antiquity. 
This,  however,  is  not  the  case.     The  condition  of  these  remains  ren 
ders  it  clearly  evident  that  the  mighty  currents,  and  floating  icebergs 
f  that  ancient  day,  gathered  at  one  and  the  same  time,  not  only  the 
bones  of  the  mammals  that  roamed  the  neighboring  forests,  but  like- 
the  weapons  of  the  primitive  people  who  preyed  upon  them, 
is  desirable,  at  this  point,  to  call  attention  to  mammalian  remains 
which  have  occured  in  superficial  gravel  deposits  in  New  Jersey;  pos 
sibly  not  of  an  earlier  date  than  the  age  of  the  Trenton  gravels,  but 
not  directly  connected  with  them. 

In  referring  to  the  discovery  of  walrus  bones,  in  New  Jersey,  Mr. 
J.  A.  Allen,  in  his  Monograph  of  North  American  Pinnipeds,  p.  59 
(Miscellaneous  Publications,  No.  12,  U.S.  Geol.  and  Geog.  Survey 
of  Territories),  says  :   "In  view  of  the  now  well-known  former  exten 
sion  of  the  habitat  of  the  Moose,  Caribou,  Reindeer,  Musk  Ox,  and 
other  northern  mammals,  southward  to  Kentucky,  the  *  *  *  *  hypoth 
esis  (referring  to  Leidy's  statement  that  the  New  Jersey  walrus  bones 
may  be  the  remains  of  the  same  species  — as  the  living— which  prob 
ably  during  the  glacial  period  extended  its  habitation  very  far  south  of 
the  latitude  in  which  it  has  been  found  in  the  historic  period)  seems 
*  probable,  and  that  the  species  in  glacial  times  inhabited  the 
eastern  coast  of  the  United  States  southward  to  Virginia,  if  not  even 
beyond  this  point."     Meagre,  therefore,  as  are  the  traces  of  mammals 
in  the  Trenton  gravels,  it  is  evident  that  patient  search  will  ultimately 
satisfactorily  increase  the  list  beyond  that  of  the  mastodon  and  bison. 
In  the  Geology  of  New  Jersey,  edition  of  1868,  page  740,  Prof.  E.  D. 
Cope  has  mentioned  the  reindeer  as  among  the  most  extinct  mom- 
malia  of  New  Jersey.      He  says,  "the    Greenland    Reindeer  was   a 
esident  of  New  Jersey,  when  the  walrus  was  on  its  shores,  and  when 
the  climate  resembled  that  of  its  present  home.     Antlers  have  been 
found  in  the  gravel  that  covers  the  older  formations  everywhere."     In 


484  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

the  gravel  that  forms  the  eastern  bank  of  the  Delaware  river,  below 
Trenton,  N.  J.,  the  late  Prof.  T.  A.  Conrad  found  a  tooth,  which  he 
informed  me,  soon  after,  had  been  identified  as  that  of  the  Caribou. 

In  this  connection,  also,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  remains  of  the 
woodland  reindeer  (Rdngifer  caribou}  and  of  the  bison  have  been 
found  in  an  ordinary  rock-shelter  near  Stroudsburg,  Penn.  The  latter 
is  believed  to  have  been  a  remnant  from  a  human  feast,  judging  from 
marks  of  fire  thereon. 

In  another  cave,  in  Bucks  Co.,  Pennsylvania,  bones  of  the  bison 
and  moose  are  also  reported. 

In  the  first  instance,  stone  and  bone  implements  were  associated 
with  the  remains  of  the  animals  mentioned,  as  well  as  those  of  the 
present  fauna.  These  superficial  "  finds  "  have  an  important  bearing 
upon  the  question  of  the  discovery  of  bones  of  extra-limital  and 
extinct  mammals  in  the  Trenton  gravels.  (Proceedings  of  the  Phila 
delphia  Academy  of  Sciences,  p.  346,  1880.) 

The  commingling  of  relics  of  man  and  the  bones  of  extinct  animals 
is  by  no  means  confined  to  the  Atlantic  seaboard  of  this  continent. 
The  researches  of  Professor  Whitney204  demonstrate  that  this  is 
true  of  the  Pacific  coast ;  while  in  the  interior,  evidence  of  the 
same  association  of  man  and  the  mastodon  has  been  discovered  by 
Professor  Aughey,205  in  the  Missouri  valley.  From  the  loess  deposits 
in  Nebraska,  Professor  Aughey  has  taken  rude  arrow  or  spearpoints, 
one  at  a  depth  of  fifteen,  and  the  other  of  twenty,  feet  below  the  sur 
face  ;  the  latter  beneath  a  vertebra  of  an  elephant.  In  reference  to 
these  finds,  Professor  Aughey  remarks,  "  It  appears,  then,  that  some  old 
races  lived  around  the  shores  of  this  ancient  lake  and  paddled  their 
canoes  over  its  waters,  and  accidentally  dropped  their  arrows  in  its 
waters  or  let  them  fly  at  a  passing  water-fowl.  *  *  *  *  Thirteen 
inches  above  the  point  where  the  last-named  arrow  was  found,  and 


204  Whitney.     The  Auriferous  gravels  of  California.     Cambridge,  Mass.,  1879. 

205  Aughey.    U.S.  Geol.  Survey  of  Colorado,  etc.     Hayden,  An.   Rep.  1874,  p.  255.     Wash 
ington,  B.C.,  187$. 


PALAEOLITHIC    IMPLEMENTS.  485 

within  three  inches  of  being  on  a  line  with  it,  in  undisturbed  loess, 
there  was  a  lumbar  vertebra  of  an  elephant  (Elephas  Amcricanus} . 
*****  It  appears  clear  from  this  conjunction  of  a  human  relic 
and  proboscidian  remains  that  man  here,  as  well  as  in  Europe,  was 
the  contemporary  of  the  elephant  in  at  least  a  portion  of  the  Missouri 
valley." 

When  such  indefinite  objects,  as  many  of  the  palaeolithic  imple 
ments  are,  are  offered  as  an  indication  of  man's  former  presence,  the 
question  naturally  arises  :  how  are  we  to  know  that  these  rudely  chipped 
pebbles  are  of  artificial  origin  ?  This  subject  will  now  be  considered. 

The  chance  occurrence  of  single  specimens  of  the  ordinary  forms 
of  Indian  relics,  at  depths  somewhat  greater  than  they  have  usually 
reached,  even,  in  constantly  cultivated  soils,  induced  the  author  several 
years  since,  to  examine  carefully  the  underlying  gravels,  to  determine 
if  the  common  surface-found  stone  implements  of  Indian  origin  were 
ever  found  therein;  except,  in  such  manner  as  might  easily  be  ex 
plained,  as  in  the  case  of  deep  burials,  by  the  uprooting  of  large  trees, 
whereby  an  implement  lying  on  the  surface  or  immediately  below  it, 
might  fall  into  the  gravel  beneath  and  subsequently  become  buried 
several  feet  in  depth ;  and  lastly,  by  the  action  of  water,  as  where  a 
stream,  swollen  by  spring  freshets,  cuts  for  itself  a  new  channel,  and 
carrying  away  a  large  body  of  earth,  leaves  its  larger  pebbles  and 
possibly  stone  implements  of  late  origin  upon  the  gravel  of  the  new 
bed  of  the  stream. 

It  was  found  that  by  all  such  means  the  most  elaborately  wrought 
Indian  relics  have  occasionally  been  buried  at  considerable  depths. 
It  was  also  found,  however,  that  there  did  occur  in  these  underlying 
gravels,  certain  rudely  shaped  specimens  of  chipped  stone,  which 
have  all  the  appearances  of  the  stone  implements  of  palaeolithic  times. 

We  find,  also,  on  comparing  a  specimen  of  these  chipped  stones 
with  an  accidentally  fractured  pebble,  that  the  chipped  surfaces  of  the 
former  all  tend  towards  the  production  of  a  cutting  edge,  and  there 
is  no  portion  of  the  stone  detached  which  does  not  add  to  the  availa 
bility  of  the  supposed  implement  as  such ;  while  in  the  case  of  a 


486  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

pebble  that  has  been  accidentally  broken,  there  is  necessarily  all  ab 
sence  of  design  in  the  fracturing.  Although  the  portions  detached 
from  these  supposed  stone  implements  are  chipped  with  reference  to 
the  natural  cleavage  of  the  mineral,  these  larger  surfaces,  the  result 
of  single  cleavages,  are  always  supplemented  by  minor  chippings  along 
the  edges,  thus  giving  every  indication  of  the  original  zigzag  edge 
having  been  made  comparatively  straight  by  more  careful  work  subse 
quently  put  upon  it.  This,  of  course,  does  not  appear  on  a  naturally 
fractured  pebble. 

These  characteristic  chippings  obtained  in  the  large  jasper  hoes  and 
hatchets  of  the  Indians,  and  a  comparison  of  these  with  the  ruder 
forms  found  in  the  gravel,  show  that  identical  means  have  produced 
the  two  forms :  the  difference  being  due  to  the  want  of  skill  in  flint 
chipping,  and  in  some  measure  to  the  greater  difficulty  in  shaping  this 
material,  which  differs  essentially  in  its  constitution  from  true  flint,  or 
the  jasper,  chert  and  chalcedony  found  in  eastern  North  America ; 
although  it  possesses  a  conchoidal  fracture.  It  may  be  mentioned, 
also,  that  although  these  implements  are  but  little  above  the  ordinary 
refuse  of  a  modern  quarry,  and  are  often  closely  reproduced  by  the 
hammer,  when  fracturing  rock  for  road-bed,  yet  they  are  none  the 
less  of  artificial  origin ;  and  further,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that 
this  absence  of  careful  workmanship  is  not  wanting  in  the  more  recent 
productions  of  the  Indians.  From  ancient  graves  in  Massachusetts, 
from  the  stone  graves  in  Tennessee,  as  well  as  from  surface  "finds" 
in  Missouri,  are  several  specimens  —  now  in  the  Museum  at  Cam 
bridge — which  are  in  all  respects,  except  in  the  mineral  used,  identical 
with  the  more  specialized  examples  from  the  Delaware  river  gravels. 

There  is,  in  all  the  specimens  collected,  a  considerable  amount  of 
weathering  of  the  surfaces,  the  degree  of  which  varies  somewhat  in 
the  whole  series,  except  where  mineral  other  than  argillite  occurs. 
In  such  specimens,  the  alteration  of  the  surface  is  much  less. 

The  degree  of  weathering  is  of  much  importance,  in  its  bearing  upon 
both  the  age  and  origin  of  these  objects.  Not  until  a  large  series  had 
been  obtained  from  various  depths,  was  it  practicable  to  determine 


VAUEOLITHIC   IMPLEMENTS.  487 

what  variation  occurred,  in  this  respect ;  but  lately,  it  has  been  found, 
on  comparing  a  large  series  from  depths  varying  from  three  feet  to 
forty,  that  those  from  the  greater  depths  were  less  weathered  than 
the  specimens  found  near  the  surface,  except  in  a  very  few  instances, 
when  a  few  examples,  showing  a  great  amount  of  weathering,  were 
found  at  depths  exceeding  twenty  feet.  Those  specimens  of  palaeo 
lithic  implements  found  upon  the  surface,  on  the  other  hand,  intimately 
associated,  as  many  of  .them  are,  with  ordinary  Indian  relics,  are  inva 
riably  more  weathered  than  those  found  in  situ,  in  the  deep,  under 
lying  gravels.  In  the  uniformity  of  the  degree  of  weathering  of  all 
the  surfaces,  we  have  evidence  that  the  several  chips  removed,  to 
produce  the  implement,  were  flaked  off  at  the  same  time,  and  this, 
at  once,  places  these  objects  in  the  category  of  artificial  productions. 

We  derive  from  these  facts,  several  important  inferences  bearing 
directly  upon  the  age  of  these  implements.  Those  that  are  but  slightly 
weathered,  and  occur  in  deep,  undisturbed  gravel,  were  doubtlessly 
dropped  in  the  river,  and  falling  upon  the  gravelly  bottom  of  the 
stream,  were  quickly  covered  by  the  constantly  increasing  mass  of  mate 
rial  which  the  swift  currents  were  bearing  downward  from  the  ice-bound 
valley.  These  unweathered  implements  were  comparatively  new  when 
lost.  The  more  eroded  examples  from  the  same  deep  gravels  may  be 
considered  as  lost  or  discarded  specimens  that,  after  long  exposure, 
were  brought  by  the  floods  from  some  distant  point.  Those  found 
upon  the  surface  are  such  as  were  in  use  at  the  time  of  the  gradual 
accumulation  of  the  gravel,  and  from  that  distant  time  until  now,  have 
been  exposed  to  the  corroding  influences  of  alternate  winter's  frost 
and  summer's  heat. 

If  the  few  specimens  with  deeply  eroded  surfaces,  that  have  been 
taken  from  depths  exceeding  twenty  feet,  were  weathered  by  long 
exposure  prior  to  their  burial  in  the  gravel,  then  they  must  have  been 
lost  long  prior  to  the  occurrence  of  the  transporting  floods,  and  so 
made  and  used  during  the  accession  of  glacial  conditions,  the  second 
time  (  ?)  in  the  river  valley.  How  long  prior  to  that  event,  who  shall 

say? 

32 


488  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  these  chipped  surfaces  might  have  been 
produced  by  frost  action,  and  that  these  supposed  implements  there 
fore,  were  natural  productions.  Given  a  single  fractured  surface, 
which  might  be  produced  by  the  ordinary  action  of  frost,  and  no 
other  productive  agency  is  required ;  but  when  we  consider  that 
instead  of  one,  there  are  twenty  or  forty  planes  of  cleavage,  all 
equally  weathered,  and  that  an  implement  has  been  produced  similar 
in  form  and  finish  to  those  neolithic  specimens  about  whose  origin 
there  is  no  question,  and  we  fail  to  see  how  nature,  by  any  known  or 
imaginable  force,  could  so  fashion  either  an  oval  pebble  or  an  angular 
fragment  of  rock. 

In  this  connection,  attention  may  properly  be  called  to  many  speci 
mens  of  "chipped  pebbles"  which  cannot  be  considered  as  imple 
ments,  inasmuch  as  there  is  no  trace  of  design  in  their  present  shapes. 
They  are,  indeed,  artificially  chipped  over  the  greater  portion  of  their 
surface,  but  they  have  no  well  defined  point  nor  cutting  edges.  These 
irregular  masses,  usually  smaller  than  the  finished  implements,  bear 
no  evidence  of  being  crushed,  although  glacial  action  probably  ex 
poses  fragments  of  rock  or  ice-encased  pebbles  more  to  such  crushing 
force,  than  to  any  other,  except  perhaps  that  process  of  rubbing 
against  denser  mineral,  which  results  in  deeply  incised  striae, —  the 
so-called  glacial  scratches.  The  lithological  character  of  argillite  is 
such,  that  a  given  mass  of  this  mineral,  if  exposed  to  a  crushing  force, 
will  not  fracture  in  such  a  way,  as  to  resemble  in  any  degree,  the 
chipped  pebbles,  here  referred  to.  When  associated  with  the  finished 
forms,  and  the  same  general  character  of  weathering  and  of  chipping 
is  noticed  on  both,  we  cannot  but  consider  them  as  identical  in  origin, 
and  need  have  no  hesitation  in  classing  such  designless  forms,  as 
broken  specimens,  as  "failures,"  or,  in  some  instances,  as  refuse  chips, 
as  they  are  found  to  have,  in  all  respects,  the  same  forms  that  are  char 
acteristic  of  the  localities  where  neolithic  implements  of  chert  and 
jasper  have  been  made. 

One  feature  of  them  all,  and  especially  of  those  from  the  deeper 
gravels,  needs  to  be  briefly  referred  to ;  this  is  the  worn  condition  of 


PAL/EOLITHIC    IMPLEMENTS.  489 

the  edges  of  the  several  surfaces  produced  by  the  detachment  of  the 
flakes.  There  are,  especially  in  fig.  413,  no  well  defined  outlines  of  a 
single  facet,  although  each  separate  flake  can  be  traced  on  the  surface 
of  the  implement.  This  partial  wearing  away,  of  these  lines  of  sepa 
ration  of  the  several  chips  that  have  been  removed,  does  not  occur, 
to  any  marked  degree,  in  jasper  specimens  that  approach  fig.  413  in 
shape,  size  and  chipping.  Whether  this  is  the  result  of  use  previous 
to  being  lost  or  discarded,  or  of  wear  by  long  exposure  to  the  shifting 
movements  of  sand  and  gravel,  cannot  now  be  determined ;  but  of 
itself,  it  seems  to  connect  closely  these  partly  worn,  yet  clearly  arti 
ficial  forms,  with  rolled  pebbles,  which  in  outline  only  suggest  the 
possibility  of  having  once  been  chipped  implements.  While,  naturally, 
broken  pebbles  may  often  approach  in  shape  any  of  these  forms  of 
stone  implements,  it  may  at  once  be  seen  that  it  is,  in  every  case,  but 
an  accidental  resemblance.206  The  outline  is  obtained,  but  not  that 
subsequent  chipping  that  gives  the  finish  that  makes  the  implement 
desirable  for  use.  The  gravel  bed,  in  which  these  " turtle  back"  celts 
and  their  modification  have  been  found,  contains  a  small  percentage 
of  angular  pebbles,  that  have  not  lost  all  traces  of  recent  fracture,  and 
therefore  are  not  as  smooth  and  uniformly  polished  as  an  ordinary 
pebble.  These  specimens,  when  bearing  marked  resemblance  to  those 
clearly  of  artificial  origin,  may  in  fact  have  been  fashioned  by  man, 
and  have  only  partially  lost,  by  the  polishing  action  of  water  and  sand, 
those  indications  of  artificially  produced  fractures,  which  characterize 
the  specimens  here  figured ;  but,  as  a  rule,  the  angular  pebbles  are  of 
natural  formation,  and  their  imperfectly  ground  and  polished  surfaces 
give  evidence  of  the  possibility,  that,  under  favorable  circumstances,  a 


20<;  The  relative  abundance  of  these  implements  is  perhaps  a  matter  of  some  importance,  in  its 
bearing  on  the  question  of  their  origin.  Were  they  natural  forms,  the  peculiar  force  that  operated 
to  produce  them,  so  marvellously  like  ordinary  Indian  relics  as  many  of  them  are,  would  scarcely 
have  been  limited  to  so  few  pebbles  as  in  this  case:  unless  future  exploration  shall  discover  at 
some  distant  point  a  locality  where  only  chipped  pebbles  occur.  An  effort  has  been  made  to  esti 
mate  the  comparative  abundance  of  these  palaeolithic  implements  in  the  gravel  deposit  forming 
the  bluff  on  the  eastern  bank  of  the  Delaware  river,  and  as  near  as  can  be  determined,  it  is  about 
one  ten-thousandth  of  one  per  cent.,  or  one  in  every  million  of  pebbles.  A  sufficient  number  of 
these  implements  have  certainly  not  as  yet  been  gathered,  to  affect  materially  this  calculation. 


490  PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 

chipped  implement  might  be  associated  with  this  gravel,  even  from 
the  time  of  its  deposition,  and  yet  escape  the  wearing  action  by  which 
its  artificial  features  are  obliterated.  The  deposit  may  be  described 
as  largely  made  up  of  ordinary  smooth,  water-worn  pebbles  varying 
in  size  from  half  an  inch  in  diameter,  to  bowlders  estimated  to  weigh 
from  one  to  twenty  tons. 

Convinced  that  the  so-called  "turtle  back"  celts,  which  are  the 
most  primitive  form  of  the  chipped  implements  of  the  gravels,  really 
are  of  artificial  origin,  many  of  them  being  identical  in  shape  with  the 
ordinary  forms  of  European  drift  implements,  and  furthermore,  since 
among  the  specimens  found,  are  several  spearhead-like  implements, 
there  can  be  but  little  doubt  that,  unassociated  as  they  are  with  the 
common  forms  of  surface-found  relics,  they  are  remains  of  an  earlier 
and  a  ruder  people,  who  occupied  the  eastern  shores  of  this  continent 
prior  to  the  advent  of  the  Indians,  or  are  their  immediate  ancestors, 
as  the  case  may  be. 

Mon.  Mortillet207  has,  in  a  late  communication  to  the  Society  of  An 
thropology  of  Paris,  given  an  interesting  account  of  the  resemblance  be 
tween  the  implements  found  in  the  valley  of  the  Delaware,  and  those 
occurring  in  various  localities  in  France.  He  says  of  a  series  of  these 
implements  collected  by  the  author  of  this  volume,  and  forwarded  to 
him;  "These  stones  do  not  chip  so  well  as  those  of  the  Somme, 
because  the  latter  are  of  si/ex,  and  silex  is  easily  chipped.  On  the 
Delavarde  [Delaware]  River,  there  is  no  silex ;  men  were  there 
obliged  to  use  a  different  stone  —  the  trap,  a  sort  of  volcanic  rock, 
slightly  argillaceous,  and  very  hard  and  difficult  to  chip.  For  this 
reason  the  axes  that  you  see  here  are  not  as  perfectly  made  as  those 
from  St.  Acheul. 

"In  many  parts  of  France  rocks  other  than  silex  are  employed 
and  they  are  no  better  than  those  brought  us.  *  *  *  *  M.  de  Semalle 
has  presented  us  with  axes  in  quartzite  which  came  from  Bretagne, 


*«  Mortillet.     Bulletin  tie  la  Socit-te  d'AnthropoIofiie  de  Paris,  Tome  Deuxieme  (III  Serie), 
p.  439.     Paris,  1879. 


PALAEOLITHIC    IMPLEMENTS.  49 1 

and  although  our  colleague  assured  us  that  he  had  carefully  chosen 
them  from  among  many  that  were  not  so  marked,  it  is  certain  that 
they  are  chipped  rudely  enough,  because  in  fact  quartzite  is  exceed 
ingly  difficult  to  break  as  you  wish  it.  Here  now,  I  present  you  with 
axes  in  quartzite  from  the  valley  of  the  Garonne,  and  you  can  see 
that  they  are  rudely  chipped. 

"It  is  interesting  to  see  that  the  same  epoch  has  produced  similar 
industries  in  such  different  countries.  This  makes  it  more  probable, 
that  there  was  formerly  a  great  bridge  between  America  and  Europe. 
The  similarity  of  a  great  number  of  animals  and  of  plants  common 
to  the  two  countries  shows  the  existence  of  this  communication.  Still 
it  may  be  supposed  that  certain  kinds  of  birds  could  have  crossed  the 
ocean ;  seeds  of  plants  may  have  been  transported  by  the  wind  ;  but 
this  explanation  is  insufficient  for  insects  and  is  altogether  inadmissible 
for  terrestrial  shells.  How  can  it  be  imagined  that  snails  and  slugs, 
unable  to  live  in  water,  could  have  passed  from  one  continent  to  the 
other  if  there  had  been  no  [means  of]  communication  between  the 
worlds?  Perhaps  this  communication  may  have  taken  place  in  the 
iiorthern  part  of  the  ocean,  in  the  latitude  of  Newfoundland." 

Fig.  414' represents  a  carefully  wrought  stone  implement,  which 
may  be  considered  as  a  typical  example  of  this  class  of  objects. 

In  its  shape  and  size,  as  well  as  the  circumstances  under  which  it 
was  found,  it  is  a  repetition,  in  America,  of  the  hundreds  of  such 
finds,  that  are  so  common  in  many  of  the  river  valleys,  both  of  France 
and  England.  Almond-shaped  celts  of  this  size  and  finish  are  not 
abundant  when  compared  with  the  whole  number  of  specimens  found. 
They  furnish  evidence  of  the  highest  skill  in  chipping  stone,  and  were 
probably  among  the  most  formidable  weapons  possessed  by  man  at 
that  time. 

Fig.  414  was  found  by  the  writer,  while  watching  the  progress  of 
an  extensive  excavation  in  Centre  street,  Trenton,  N.  J.  It  was  nearly 
seven  feet  from  the  surface,  surrounded  by  a  mass  of  very  large  cobble 
stones  and  bowlders,  one  of  the  latter  overlying  it.  It  is  moderately 
weathered ;  but  the  boundary  ridges,  of  the  various  flakes  that  have 


492 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


been  detached,  are  nearly  obliterated,  apparently  by  long  exposure  to 
shifting  sands  and  running  water. 

Fig.  415  represents  an  average  specimen  of  the  flat-bottomed,  peak- 


FIG.  414.  —  New  Jersey.     -}-. 


backed  stones,  known  in  some  localities  as  "turtle-backs,"  a  name 
that  admirably  describes  their  general  appearance.  These  implements 
(for  their  artificial  origin  can  scarcely  be  questioned)  are  very  uni- 


PALAEOLITHIC    IMPLEMENTS.  493 

form  in  the  character  of  the  chipping,  in  the  material,  argillite,  of 
which  they  are  made,  and  the  erosion  of  their  surfaces,  though  in  this 
latter  respect  they  vary  more  than  in  any  other. 

The  specimen   here  figured  measures  four  inches    in   length   and 


FIG.  415.  — New  Jersey,    j. 


two  and  one-half  inches  in  width.  The  bottom  is  nearly  a  perfect 
plane,  and  shows,  by  the  slight  indentations  and  scratch-like  markings, 
that  it  has  been  chipped  into  its  present  shape,  and  not  accidentally 
broken.  Its  greatest  thickness  is  one  and  one-eighth  inches;  the 
"peak,"  or  highest  point  of  the  back,  being  in  the  middle  of  the 
specimen,  measured  lengthwise,  but  rather  nearer  one  side  than  the 


494 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 


other.  The  broader  side  of  the  back  does  not  appear  to  be  any  better 
adapted  for  cutting,  than  is  the  narrower  or  irore  abruptly  descending 
side. 

Although  this  stone,  from  long  exposure,  has  become  porous  upon 
the  surface,  two  edges  still  remain  sharp  and  regular,  and  exhibit  an 
amount  of  skill  in  "flint-chipping"  about  equal  to  that  of  the  ordinary 
slate  hoes,  shovels,  spears  and  arrowpoints.  Close  examination  shows 
that  the  back  has  been  worked  into  its  present  shape  by  a  series  of 

powerful  blows,  or  by  pressure. 
Usually  large  surfaces  are  left, 
in  severa.1  instances  planes 
being  formed  by  the  detach 
ment  of  a  single  fragment  of 
the  rock,  which  extends  from 
the  peak  to  the  edge  of  the 
implement. 

This  specimen  was  found  on 
the  face  of  the  gravel  bluff  that 
forms  the  eastern  bank  of  the 
Delaware  river,  below  Tren 
ton,  N.  J.  The  original  po 
sition,  as  to  depth,  was  not 
noted  at  the  time,  as  these 
objects  were  not  then  dis 
tinguished  from  the  ordinary 
FIG.  4i6. -New  jersey.  ] .  relics  of  the  Indians.  As 

many  specimens,  however,  of  the  same  pattern  have  been  collected 
at  this  place,  most  of  which  were  from  undisturbed  gravel,  and  at 
determined  depths,  it  is  quite  evident  that  all  these  implements  are 
from  the  same  general  locality,  and  while  differing  much  in  age, 
are  not  in  any  case  to  be  referred  to  the  Indians  of  a  comparatively 
recent  time. 

Fig.  416  represents  a  somewhat  smaller  example  of  these  "turtle 
backs,"  taken  from  the  same  locality.  As  in  the  preceding  instance, 


PALAEOLITHIC    IMPLEMENTS. 


495 


this  specimen  is  made  of  argillite,  and  has  been  considerably  eroded 
by  long  exposure.  This  is  believed  to  have  occurred  prior  to  its 
being  deeply  buried  in  the  gravel  bed,  from  which  it  was  taken.  The 
chipping,  as  in  fig.  415,  is  coarse,  but  well  designed,  and  has  produced 
a  moderately  sharp  cutting  edge  around  the  entire  margin.  As  is 
nearly  always  the  case  with  these  "  turtle  backs,"  the  under  side  is 
perfectly  flat,  and  hence  it  is  that  these  specimens,  when  resting  upon 
their  flat  under  surfaces, 
resemble  the  shells  of 
our  common  box  tor 
toise  (  C is  tu  do ) .  To 
this  fact  they  owe  their 
popular  name. 

Fig.  417  represents  a 
third  example  of  the  so- 
called  "turtle  backs," 
but  varies  in  being 
pointed,  or  spear-shaped 
in  its  outline.  Like  the 
preceding  oval  s  p  e  c  i  - 
mens,  this  implement  is 
flat  upon  its  under  side, 
but  this  side  is  not  the 
natural  surface  of  the 
pebble,  worn  smooth  by 
water  action,  but  the 
plane  left  by  detaching  a  single  large  flake.  The  specimen  has  there 
fore  the  appearance  of  being  the  half  of  an  ordinary  palaeolithic 
implement,  which  has  been  evenly  split  in  two.  This  specimen,  now 
preserved  in  the  museum  of  the  Academy  of  Science,  at  Salem,  Mass., 
was  one  of  the  first  found  on  the  gravelly  bluff  facing  the  river  at  Tren 
ton,  N.  J.,  although  its  age  and  origin  were  not  recognized  at  the  time. 

The  preceding  specimens,  excepting  fig.  414,  bear  such  a  resem 
blance  to  a  class  of  jasper  implements,  which  are  supposed  to  have 


FIG.  417.  — New  Jersey.     }. 


496  PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 

been  cutting  tools,  that  we  are  warranted  in  assuming,  that  they  were 
used  for  much  the  same  purposes.  The  flat  under  surface  does  not 
give  to  these  "turtle-backs"  as  good  cutting  edges  as  are  found  on 
those  specimens  that  are  chipped  upon  both  sides ;  but,  notwithstand 
ing  this  objectionable  feature,  the  edges  are  sufficiently  sharp  to  be 
available  for  cutting  flesh  and  similar  yielding  substances.  For  some 
such  purpose,  they  were  probably  used. 

Fig.  418  is  an  example  of  more  elaborately  wrought  form,  and  is 
of  interest  from  its  resemblance  to  the  European  patterns  of  palaeo 
lithic  implements,  and  from  the  fact  that  it  is  an  excellent  connecting 
link  between  the  ruder  forms,  that  have  been  figured,  and  those  that 
are  of  higher  design  and  better  finish.  This  spear-shaped,  or  pointed 
implement  is  carefully  shaped  from  an  argillite  pebble,  and  has  well 
defined  sharp,  if  not  cutting,  edges.  The  base  is  rounded,  and  pre 
serves  the  natural  surface  of  the  pebble.  The  point  is  quite  acute, 
and  the  sides  have  been  produced  by  chipping,  so  that  a  compara 
tively  uniform  surface  has  resulted.  The  degree  of  weathering  is 
uniform,  and  so  far  as  this  can  be  trusted  as  a  guide,  the  specimen 
has  had  each  flake  removed  at  practically  the  same  time. 

This  implement  measures  six  inches  in  length,  by  from  three  to 
three  and  one-fourth  inches  in  width,  until  near  the  point  where  it 
suddenly  narrows. 

It  was  found  at  the  bluff  at  Trenton,  in  a  narrow  gorge,  caused  by 
running  water  which,  however,  had  not  displaced  the  material  forming 
the  sides  of  the  little  chasm.  It  was  nine  feet  from  the  surface,  and 
overtopped  by  a  large  bowlder.  It  bears  considerable  resemblance 
to  certain  chipped  implements  of  jasper,  porphyry  and  sandstone, 
which  have  been  occasionally  found  on  the  surface  associated  with 
ordinary  Indian  relics ;  and  which  the  writer  supposes  were  largely 
used  as  "heads"  for  war-clubs.  However  this  may  be,  an  implement, 
like  the  one  here  described,  might  readily  be  mounted  in  a  handle,  or, 
having  a  blunt  base,  be  held  in  the  hand  and  wielded  with  terrible 
effect.  Other  examples  of  this  form,  mostly  of  argillite,  have  been 
collected  from  the  same  locality. 


PALEOLITHIC    IMPLEMENTS.  497 

Fig.  419,  a  b,  represents  two  views  of  a  quite  carefully  wrought 


FIG.  418.  — New' Jersey.     |. 

specimen  of  these  rude  implements,  measuring  nearly  five  inches  in 


498  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

length,  by  two  and  one-half  inches  in  average  breadth,  and  less  than 
two  inches  in  greatest  thickness.  It  is  an  excellent  example  of  that 
form  previously  referred  to,  as  a  "turtle-back"  celt.  Of  this  specimen 


FIG.  419/2.—  New  Jersey. 


Dr.  M.  E.  Wadsworth  says,  "as  far  as  can  be  told  from  examining  its 
external  surface,  without  any  fresh  fracture,  I  should  consider  it  to  be 
made  of  very  compact  argillite.  It  shows  weathering,  and  also  a 
more  recent  fracture,  which  has  weathered  to  some  extent.  I  should 


PAL/EOLITHIC    IMPLEMENTS. 


499 


consider  it  very  doubtful  if  this  could  be  formed  naturally."  This 
specimen,  like  the  preceding,  came  from  the  bluff  facing  the  river. 
It  was  taken  from  a  depth  of  three  feet  in  from  the  face  of  the  bluff, 

which  was  itself  evidently  the  un 
disturbed  gravel. 

It  is  desirable  to  state,  in  this 
connection,  that  the  upper  surface 
of  this  bluff  was  removed  many 
years  ago,  when  grading  the  street 
that  now  passes  along  the  slowly 
crumbling  escarpment  formed  by 
the    wearing   action  of  the  river 
flowing  at  its  foot.    All  the  super 
ficial    soil   and    several   feet    of 
gravel  were  removed,  and   all 
specimens  now  found  in  the  talus 
are    necessarily  from   the    gravel 
itself,  and  could  not  have   been 
derived  from  the  original  surface. 
A   series  of  the   earlier  found 
I   cf  these  argillite    implements, 
derived  from    the    gravel   beds, 
were    submitted    to    Dr.    M.    E. 
Wadsworth,   of  Cambridge,   the 
eminent  lithologist,  to  determine 
their    mineralogical    character, 
with    especial    reference    to    the 
possibility   of   the    fractures   that 
might  arise  from  natural  causes. 

Of  the  specimen,  fig.  420,  Dr. 
Wadsworth  says,  "  It  is  an  argillite. 


FIG.  419/5.— New  Jersey.     |. 


It  is  highly  indurated,  with  a  conchoidal  fracture,  without  cleavage, 
and  fuses  to  a  yellowish  .green  or  white  glass  which  is  feebly  magnetic. 
The  weathering  which  it  shows  could  hardly  have  taken  place  except 


coo 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


before  it  was  covered  with  soil ;  it  might  possibly,  but  I  think  not 
probably,  in  a  loose,  open  gravel.  It  is  not  at  all  likely  to  be  of 
natural  formation."  The  specimen  is  figured  of  natural  size,  and 
requires  no  further  description,  other  than  to  remark  that  it  was  found 
in  the  undisturbed  gravel  of  the  bluff  facing  the  Delaware,  at  a  depth 
of  six  feet  from  the  surface. 

The  word  "undisturbed"  is  purposely  emphasized,  inasmuch  as  it 


FIG.  420.  — New  Jersey.    \ 

is  necessary,  as  Professor  Pumpelly  has  pointed  out,  to  determine 
whether  the  undisturbed  specimens  occur  in  the  gravel  as  it  exists 
when  first  exposed,  or  in  a  talus  that  may  have  been  formed  at  the 
base  of  the  bluff,  and  which,  in  some  cases,  may  extend  upwards, 
nearly  to  the  top ;  as  in  the  latter  event  it  is  possible  that  an  imple- 


PAL/EOLITHIC    IMPLEMENTS. 


501 


ment  might  have  very  recently  rolled  down  from  the  surface,  and  be, 
now,  buried  several  feet  from  the  face  of  the  bluff.  This  possible 
occurrence  has  been  duly  considered  in  every  instance,  and  no  such 
displacement  evidently  had  taken  place,  in  the  instance  of  the  speci 
men  here  figured,  or 
in  that  of  others  found 
both  before  and  since. 

Fig.  421  represents 
a  specimen  formed  of 
an  argillite  pebble,  with 
a  portion  of  the  water- 
worn  or  weathered  sur 
face  constituting  the 
greater  part  of  the 
base,  on  one  side  of 
the  implement.  The 
corresponding  side  is 
a  uniform  surface,  but 
is  less  smooth,  and  ex 
hibits  every  indication 
of  being  much  less 
weathered,  although  it 
is  greatly  altered  from 
a  freshly  fractured  sur 
face. 

This  specimen  meas 
ures  four  and  one- 
fourth  inches  scant  in 
length.  The  base  is, 


FIG.  421.  —  New  Jersey, 


in  width,  a  little  less  than  one-half  the  length.  The  chipped  portion 
decreases  uniformly  in  width  from  the  base,  the  flakes  having  been 
detached  from  both  sides,  and  the  edges.  The  specimen  terminates 
in  quite  a  blunt  point,  and  does  not  appear  to  have  been  more 
acutely  finished,  than  it  now  is.  In  general  outline,  fig.  421  closely 


502 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 


resembles  many  of  the  European  flint  implements  from  the  river 
valleys,  and  bears  far  more  resemblance  to  many  neolithic  forms 
than  do  the  majority  of  the  chipped  flints  from  tertiary  deposits  lately 
described  in  detail  by  M.  Robiero.208 

This  specimen  was  taken  from  the  gravel,  at  the  bluff  forming  the 
eastern  bank  of  the  Delaware  river  at  Trenton,  at  a  depth  of  seven 
feet  from  the  surface. 

Fig.  422  represents  a  carefully  shaped  and  creditably  designed  ar- 
gillite  implement,  that  is  much  like  many  of  those  found  in  Europe. 


FIG.  422.  —  New  Jersey.    4-. 

From  the  base,  which  is  the  unchipped  natural  surface  of  the  argillite 
pebble,  this  implement  is  flaked  equally  on  both  sides,  and  brought 
to  an  edge  along  each  margin,  and  at  the  same  time  it  tapers  to  an 
obtuse  point,  sufficiently  marked,  however,  to  indicate  that  it  was 
intended  to  pierce  as  well  as  to  cut.  The  broad  base,  which  is  suffi 
ciently  wide  to  allow  the  specimen  to  stand  upright  without  support, 


208Descrip.  de  Alguus.  Silex  E   Quart.  Lascados   en   contrados   nos   camados  dos  terrenes: 
Tertiar.  e  Quaternaries     M.  Carlos  Robiero,  Lisboa,  1877. 


PAUEOLITHIC    IMPLEMENTS.  503 

could  never  have  been  attached  to  a  long  shaft,  and  so  it  could  never 
have  been  used  as  a  spearhead. 

Held  in  the  hand,  it  would  seem  to  be  an  awkward  instrument  for 
most  purposes,  but  the  broad  base  would  serve  to  protect  the  hand, 
were  it  held  in  this  way,  and  used  for  striking  sudden  blows.  Hafted 
in  some  manner,  an  excellent  weapon  is  obtained  and  one  that  would 
prove  not  only  valuable,  in  close  combats,  but  as  a  hunting  imple 
ment,  whenever  an  opportunity  was  given  to  strike  a  sudden  blow. 

Neolithic  implements  of  this  pattern,  but  usually  longer,  were  prob 
ably  used  for  grubbing  roots,  but  implements  of  this  pattern,  when 
found  in  the  river  gravels,  are  more  likely  to  have  been  ice-picks. 
If  we  are  warranted  in  supposing  that  the  people  who  made  and  used 
these  palaeolithic  implements  lived  here  during  the  prevalence  of  an 
arctic  climate,  then  they  must  have  had  some  means  for  cutting  holes 
in  the  ice,  and  for  such  a  purpose,  the  broad-based  implements,  like 
fig.  422,  were  admirably  adapted.  If  used  in  this  manner,  they  would 
be  peculiarly  liable  to  be  lost  through  the  holes  cut  in  the  ice. 

This  specimen  was  found,  several  years  ago,  in  the  bluff  or  gravel 
bed  that  formerly  faced  upon  the  east  side  of  Cooper  street,  Trenton, 
and  was  in  the  loose  gravel,  which  was  then  being  removed.  It  was 
near  the  centre  of  a  mass  of  small  pebbles  and  sand,  which  was 
detached  bodily,  and  from  the  foot  of  the  bluff,  and  which,  when 
it  crumbled,  exposed  this  specimen.  Above  the  mass,  in  which  this 
specimen  was  embedded,  extended  a  stratum  of  sand  of  considerable 
thickness,  overlying  which  was  the  surface  soil.  The  specimen  was  at 
least  at  a  depth  of  eight  feet. 

It  was  at  this  locality,  that  some  time  before,  the  writer  found,  in 
situ,  three  chipped  masses  of  stone,  supposed  to  have  had  an  artificial 
origin.  That  two  of  them  were  palaeolithic  implements,  subsequent 
discoveries  have  shown  to  be  true.  Of  these,  as  early  as  1873,  the 
opinion  was  expressed,209  that  as  they  occurred  so  deeply  in  the  earth, 
and  in  gravel  and  sand  that  showed  no  evidence  of  recent  disturbance, 

209  Abbott.     American  Naturalist,  vol.  vii,  p.  207,  figs.  36-38.     Salem,  Mass.,  1873. 


5°4 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 


"they  were  fashioned  and  used  by  a  people  far  antedating  the  race 
that  subsequently  occupied  this  same  territory." 

Fig.  423,  a,  b,  represents  the  spearhead-like  implement  previously 
referred  to.  The  illustration  shows,  at  a  glance,  the  artificial  origin  of 
the  specimen.  It  is  made  of  flint,  and  is  the  only  instance  of  the 
occurrence  of  a  drift  implement  of  this  mineral.  This  specimen  was 
taken  from  the  gravel,  at  a  depth  of  six  feet  from  the  surface,  on  the 
site  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  Broad  street,  Trenton,  N.  J.  It  was 


FIG.  423.  —  New  Jersey.     \. 

found  lying  in  situ,  in  a  shallow  stratum  of  coarse  pebbles,  and  clearly 
showed  by  its  surroundings  that  it  had  not  become  buried  at  this  depth, 
subsequently  to  the  deposition  of  the  containing  layer  of  pebbles. 

The  fact  that  this  specimen  was  found  at  a  depth,  at  which  under 
exceptional  circumstance  ordinary  Indian  relics  might  be  buried,  and 
being  of  a  different  mineral  from  the  characteristic  forms  of  the  gravel, 
might  lead  to  the  belief  that  this  more  artistically  chipped  flint  spear- 
shaped  implement,  was  an  "intrusive"  relic  of  Indian  origin.  The 


PALAEOLITHIC    IMPLEMENTS.  505 

general  character  of  this  gravel-bed,  even  at  this  shallow  depth — six 
feet  from  the  surface — where  this  flint  specimen  occurred,  was  such 
as  to  convince  any  one,  had  they  examined  the  locality  at  the  time, 
that  the  specimen  had  not  reached  there  subsequently  to  the  deposition 
of  the  gravel  itself.  Fortunately,  at  the  time,  an  exceptionally  good 
opportunity  of  examining  the  locality  was  offered,  and  it  was  evident 
that  the  implement-bearing  gravels,  that  can  be  readily  distinguished 
from  the  later  beds,  here  came  to  the  surface.  Bowlders  of  large 
size  were  upon  the  surface,  and  the  sides  of  the  excavation,  from 
which  was  taken  this  specimen  (fig.  423),  showed  by  the  close  pack 
ing  of  the  material  constituting  the  mass,  that  it  had  not  been  recently 
disturbed,  and  that  it  had  been  deposited  by  the  same  forces  that 
formed  the  gravel-bluff,  now  constituting  the  eastern  bank  of  the  river, 
nearly  two  miles  distant.  Immediately  above  it,  /.  <?.,  on  the  same 
horizon,  but  not  directly  over  it,  and  continuously  to  the  surface  were 
numbers  of  large  stones,  several  of  them  containing  from  six  to  ten 
cubic  feet.  In  such  a  mass,  and  at  such  a  depth,  it  is  scarcely  possible 
a  spearpoint  of  the  later  Indians  could  have  reached.  The  fact  that 
the  specimen  is  flint,  and  not  argillite,  has  no  bearing  on  the  question 
of  its  being  other  than  a  palaeolithic  implement,  inasmuch  as  in  all 
well  known  localities  in  Europe,  where  palaeolithic  flints  occur,  there 
have  been  found  occasional  specimens  made  of  other  minerals. 

Fig.  424  represents  a  very  carefully  chipped  argillite  implement  that 
bears  a  marked  resemblance  to  many  of  the  European  specimens  of 
palaeolithic  implements.  The  specimen  measures  four  and  one-half 
inches  in  length,  and  a  little  less  than  two  and  one-half  inches  in  its 
greatest  width.  In  the  chipping,  this  specimen  varies  somewhat  from 
a  typical  turtle-back,  in  that  the  under,  or  flatter,  side  is  somewhat 
chipped,  especially  along  the  edges,  which  throughout  their  entire 
length,  exhibit  traces  of  secondary  chipping,  whereby  the  edges  were 
made  more  nearly  straight.  The  general  outline  is  that  of  a  spear  or 
lance-head,  rather  than  an  indefinitely  shaped  "chipped  implement," 
as  many  of  them  are.  There  is  in  this  instance  a  well  defined  point, 
and  a  broad,  straight  base,  giving  a  general  contour  quite  similar  to 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


certain  jasper  and  slate  "hoe  blades,"  as  this  pattern  of  neolithic  im 
plements  is  sometimes  called. 

This  specimen,  fig.  424,  was  taken  from  the  bluff  facing  the  river, 
but  two  miles  farther  south  than  the  exposure  near  Trenton,  from  which 

most  of  the  specimens 
have  been  gathered. 
It  was  discovered  in  a 
perpendicular  exposure 
of  the  bluff,  immedi 
ately  after  the  detach 
ment  of  a  large  mass  of 
material,  and  in  a  sur 
face  that  had  but  the 
day  before  been  ex 
posed  and  had  not  yet 
begun  to  crumble. 
The  specimen  was 
twenty-one  feet  from 
the  surface  of  the 
ground,  and  within  a 
foot  of  the  triassic  clays 
that  are  here  exposed. 
Directly  over  it,  and  in 
contact,  was  a  bowlder 
of  large  size,  probably 
weighing  one  hundred 
pounds  •  while  at  a  dis 
tance  of  five  feet  above 
was  a  second  much 
larger  bowlder.  The 
character  of  the  mass,  which  was  that  of  the  bluff  on  the  bank  of  the 
river  near  Trenton,  was  such  as  to  render  it  impossible  that  this 
specimen  could  have  reached  this  position  subsequently  to  the  deposi 
tion  of  the  containing  bed. 


FIG.  424.  — New  Jersey. 


PAL/EOLITHIC    IMPLEMENTS. 


5°7 


Fig.  425  represents  a  very  artificial  looking,  and  yet  quite  unique, 
form  of  chipped  stone  implement.  It  certainly  bears  no  resemblance 
to  any  common  form  of  neolithic  weapon  or  domestic  implement.  In 


FIG.  425.  — New  Jersey. 


general,  its  appearance  is  that  of  a  rude  spear,  such  as  not  unfrequently 
occurs  upon  the  surface,  made  of  jasper  and  quartz ;  but  the  handle- 
like  projection,  which  may  or  may  not  have  been  pointed  originally, 


5°8  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

renders  it  difficult  to  determine  the  probable  use  of  the  implement ; 
but  that  the  specimen  is  artificial,  and  designed  for  some  definite  pur 
pose,  there  can  be  no  doubt. 

This  specimen  measures  four  and  five-eighths  inches  in  length,  and 
two  inches  in  maximum  width,  exclusive  of  the  projecting  point  or 
"handle"  at  one  side.  This  projection  is  one  and  one-fourth  inches 
in  length.  The  chipping  on  this  implement  is  quite  well  defined  along 
the  edges ;  and  this,  of  itself,  gives  evidence  of  its  artificial  origin ; 
for  we  do  not  find  traces  of  secondary  chipping,  whereby  zigzag  lines 
are  straightened,  occurring  among  crushed  or  frost-fractured  pebbles. 

This  unique  form  was  found  on  the  same  gravelly  bluff  from 
which  the  preceding  was  taken,  but  at  a  point  two  miles  distant, 
down  the  river.  The  specimen  was  exposed  after  a  land-slide  which 
occurred  on  Aug.  24th,  immediately  after  a  violent  storm.  A  large 
mass  of  gravel  was  detached  bodily,  leaving  a  fresh  surface  of  the 
bluff,  from  which  this  specimen  projected.  The  depth  from  the  sur 
face  was  considerable,  though  it  could  not  be  accurately  determined 
at  the  time. 

Fig.  426  represents  a  specimen  more  like  a  weapon  than  any  of 
the  rude  implements  that  have  as  yet  been  collected.  Its  shape  seems 
to  suggest  its  use,  and,  considering  the  rough  workmanship  that  has 
been  expended  upon  it,  it  is  admirably  adapted  to  the  supposed  use 
to  which  it  was  put.  It  foreshadows  the  tomahawk  of  more  modern 
times.  There  appear  to  have  been  no  fractures  since  the  implement 
was  made.  The  whole  surface  presents  the  same  weather-worn  ap 
pearance,  and  it  is  doubtful  if  even  the  rude  edges  were  more  regular 
in  design  or  sharper  than  at  present.  Very  nearly  eight  inches  in 
length,  the  specimen  may,  for  purposes  of  description,  be  divided  into 
two  sections  —  the  front  or  blade  of  the  weapon,  and  the  hammer 
head  or  back.  The  blade  or  front  portion  is  four  inches  in  length, 
forming  nearly  a  continuous  line  with  the  top  of  the  back ;  the  eleva 
tion  of  the  outline  or  margin  being  less  than  half  an  inch  at  the 
angle  of  the  back  and  edge.  Below,  the  line  of  the  back  and  that  of 
the  blade  form  an  obtuse  angle  ;  the  blade  being  beneath,  an  inch  and 


PALAEOLITHIC   IMPLEMENTS. 


5°9 


three-eighths  wider  than  the  narrower  portion  or  hammer-head.  The 
entire  margin  of  this  specimen  has  been  chipped  into  its  present  shape 
and  condition,  giving  it  a  rudely-rounded  appearance  at  the  top,  edge, 
bottom,  and  extremity  of  the  back.  This  chipping  has  not  been  done 
by  an  ordinary  hammer-stone,  pecking  off  the  small  fragments  and 
producing  the  peculiar  dotted  appearance  common  to  the  ordinary 
grooved  cobble-stone  axes ;  but  the  stone  has  been  flaked  off  in  larger 
pieces,  although  the  appearance  varies  somewhat  from  the  shelly 
fracture  of  jasper.  As  a  large  portion  of  the  side  of  this  specimen 
is  smooth,  it  is  probable  that  the  mass,  as  originally  detached  from 


FIG.  426.  —  New  Jersey 


the  rock,  bore  some  resemblance  to  the  weapon  or  implement  as  it 
now  appears.  This  implement  is  of  special  interest  as  being  the 
most  primitive  specimen  of  a  rude  hatchet  yet  met  with,  that  appears 
to  have  had  a  handle  fastened  to  it.  A  split  or  forked  sapling  could 
have  been  as  readily  attached  to  an  axe  of  this  shape  as  to  any  of  the 
grooved  forms.  The  shallow  notch  beneath,  at  the  junction  of  the 
back  and  blade,  was  apparently  so  chipped  to  make  the  handle  more 
secure. 

This  axe-like  specimen  was  found  upon  the  surface  of  a  gravelly 
field,  under  circumstances  that  have  no  bearing  upon  the  question  of 


510  PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 

its  age.  The  fact  that  it  is  of  argillite,  together  with  its  weathered 
condition  and  the  similarity  of  the  chipping  to  those  implements  found 
in  the  gravel,  renders  it  probable  that  it  is  not  the  handiwork  of  the 
Indian.  It  is  described,  in  this  connection,  because  its  condition  is 
such  as  to  suggest  that  it  had  as  early  an  origin  as  the  term  "  palaeo 
lithic"  implies. 

Its  palaeolithic  age  is  further  rendered  probable  from  the  fact,  that 
very  recently,  during  an  examination  of  the  gravel  bank  facing  the 
river,  near  Trenton,  N.  J.,  by  Prof.  W.  Boyd  Dawkins,  Prof.  Henry 
W.  Haynes  and  others,  a  very  characteristic  specimen  of  a  pointed 
palaeolithic  implement  was  found,  that  had  a  rude,  but  quite  distinct 
encircling  groove,  and  was  therefore  evidently  intended  to  be  hafted. 
Still  another  specimen,  found  in  deep  undisturbed  gravel  by  the  writer, 
was  of  such  shape  that  it  could  scarcely  have  been  used,  unless  at 
tached  to  a  handle. 

Finally,  it  is  desirable  to  add,  in  this  connection,  that  these  rude  im 
plements  have  been  frequently  found  in  situ  by  others,  as  well  as 
myself,  and  thus  evidence  is  not  wanting  to  show  that  my  own  im 
pressions  as  to  their  antiquity,  based  upon  the  circumstances  of  their 
position,  when  found,  were  not  unwarranted. 

In  the  Annual  Report  of  the  Museum  at  Cambridge,  Mass.,  for 
1880,  the  Curator  has  recently  referred  to  this  subject,  in  connection 
with  the  series  of  specimens  found  by  me,  and  presented  to  that 
institution.  Professor  Putnam  remarks  that  "others,  including  myself, 
have  found  implements  in  place  in  the  gravel,  and  at  a  meeting  of  the 
Boston  Society  of  Natural  History,  held  Jan.  19,  1880,  the  subject  was 
carefully  discussed  ;  and  the  evidence,  supposed  to  be  wanting  by  some 
as  to  the  actual  finding  of  specimens  in  situ  in  the  gravel,  was  given 
in  detail." 

Having  spoken  at  length  of  the  deposits  of  gravel  from  which  the 
characteristic  implements  here  described  have  been  taken,  and  the 
position  of  these  gravels  in  the  geological  series  having  been  shown, 
that  we  may  appropriately  determine  the  antiquity  of  these  relics,  it 
is  necessary  now  to  point  out  the  relationship  of  the  relics  of  an 
ancient  people  found  in  them,  to  the  containing  beds. 


PALAEOLITHIC   IMPLEMENTS.  511 

What  seems  to  be  a  most  conclusive  argument  in  favor  of  the  view 
that  these  relics  of  men  are  as  old  as,  and  in  some  cases  it  may  be  older 
than,  the  gravels  that  now  surround  them,  is  the  fact  that  while  the 
palaeolithic  implements  are  characteristic  of  the  gravel,  and  neolithic 
implements  of  the  surface,  it  is  quite  natural  to  find  the  former,  as  we 
find  its  containing  bed,  frequently  cropping  out  upon  the  surface ; 
while  we  never  find  this  same  soil  at  great  depths,  nor  do  the  relics  of 
the  Indian,  that  now  dot  its  surface,  ever  occur  in  such  inexplicable 
positions.  We  can  easily  imagine  an  earthquake  creating  a  deep 
chasm  or  crack  in  the  surface,  and  inhuming  a  comparatively  modern 
implement ;  but  there  are  no  traces  of  such  cataclysmic  action  here, 
and  if  such  an  event  had  occurred,  there  would  be  other  evidences 
than  the  commingling  of  objects  from  the  surface  with  the  underlying 
deposits  ;  but  such  are  wanting.  Besides,  if  these  rude  forms  were  of 
identical  origin  with  common  Indian  relics,  then  rude  and  elaborate 
alike,  jasper,  quartz,  porphyry  and  slate  together,  axes,  spears,  pottery 
and  ornaments,  all  of  which  are  found  upon  the  surface,  should  occur 
at  these  depths.  Any  disturbance  that  would  bury  one,  would  bury 
the  others.  Such,  however,  is  not  the  case ;  and  this  one  fact  is,  I 
think,  of  itself  sufficient  to  show  that  there  is  a  distinction  to  be  drawn 
between  these  roughly  chipped  implements  and  the  skilfully  wrought 
productions  of  the  Indians. 

Furthermore,  in  considering  the  relationship  of  these  rudely  fash 
ioned  stone  implements  to  the  beds  containing  them,  and  the  place  of 
the  latter  in  the  geological  history  of  the  globe,  it  must  first  be  borne 
in  mind,  that  the  many  changes  which  have  occurred  in  the  past  were 
periods  of  long  duration,  and  that  the  changes  of  climate  and  the 
modifications  of  the  dry  land  were  all  gradual  occurrences.  None 
were  of  such  violence  as  to  render  the  globe  uninhabitable  by  man. 
The  severity  of  the  glacial  climate  itself,  it  is  known,  but  partially  de 
stroyed,  though  it  largely  displaced,  animal  and  vegetable  life  ;  and  if 
the  displacement  of  mammals  is  a  clearly  ascertained  fact,  it  is  quite 
safe  to  include  man,  if  he  also  existed  here,  as  I  have  endeavored  to 
show  was  the  case. 


512  PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 

In  the  foregoing  sketch  of  the  indications  of  a  primitive  people  that 
occupied  the  northern  Atlantic  seaboard  of  America,  prior  to  the  gen 
erally  supposed  recent  advent  of  the  North  American  Indian,  nothing 
has  been  adduced  to  indicate  the  racial  belongings  of  this  preoccupy 
ing  people.  In  the  traces  themselves  of  this  supposed  race  that  have 
been  preserved,  there  is  nothing  that  helps  to  solve  the  question  of 
their  pre-Indian  or  Indian  origin ;  and  we  must  consider  them  simply 
as  rude  productions  of  the  Indians,  who,  as  a  people  in  the  palaeo 
lithic  stage  of  culture,  reached  our  coast  possibly  as  far  back  in  time 
as  the  glacial  epoch,  unless  other  evidence  can  be  brought  to  show 
that  an  earlier  and  ruder  race  once  possessed  this  country.  Have  we 
any  evidence  of  this  ? 

A  careful  study  of  the  relationship  of  the  implements  characteristic 
of  the  gravel,  to  the  better  known  traces  of  the  Indian  —  ordinary  ar 
rowheads,  celts  and  axes  —  of  itself,  suggests  the  probability  of  the  In 
dians  being  comparatively  recent  occupants  of  Eastern  America ; 
although,  if  measured  by  years,  the  duration  of  their  occupancy  ex 
tends  far  indeed,  into  the  distant  past. 

The  conclusion  that  the  Indians  were  preceded  by  another  people 
is  based  upon  the  fact  that  it  is  not  practicable  to  trace  any  connec 
tion  between  the  characteristic  chipped  palaeolithic  implements  and 
the  polished,  pecked  and  finely  wrought  objects  of  Indian  origin ;  the 
one  form  certainly  not  having  any  necessary  connection  with  the  other. 
The  wide  gap  that  exists  between  a  full  series  of  each  of  the  two  forms 
is  readily  recognized,  when  the  two  are  brought  together,  and  no 
one  will  hesitate  to  acknowledge  it ;  but  mere  verbal  descriptions  of 
distinctive  characteristics,  prominent  as  they  are  to  the  eye,  convey 
but  little  meaning. 

The  gap  that  exists  between  one  of  the  more  highly  specialized  pal 
aeolithic  implements  and  a  rude  agricultural  tool  of  Indian  manufac 
ture,  is  slight  indeed,  and  the  maker  of  the  one  might  readily  have 
made  the  other ;  but  when  we  consider  that  a  difference  of  material 
also,  to  a  great  extent,  is  characteristic  of  the  two  forms,  and  the  rude 
argillite  objects  on  the  one  hand  are  as  marked  a  feature  of  the  gravel 


PALAEOLITHIC    IMPLEMENTS.  513 

beds,  as  the  rude  flint  and  slate  hoes  and  shovels  are  common  to  the 
surface,  it  becomes  evident  to  those  who  carefully  examine  the  several 
forms  from  the  two  positions,  that  they  are  as  widely  separated  as  the 
fossils  of  different  geological  formations.  Indeed,  were  the  gravel 
beds,  that  contain  these  implements  of  palaeolithic  age  and  origin,  by 
any  means  converted  into  solid  rocks,  these  artificially  shaped  stones 
would  become  veritable  fossils,  and  as  clearly  indicative  of  a  well  de 
fined  species  of  man,  as  the  casts  of  Cuatltea,  so  abundant  in  our 
green  sand  marls,  mark  a  well-known  form  of  molluscan  life  once  com 
mon  in  the  Cretaceous  seas. 

As  to  the  ordinary  stone  implements,  it  may  be  mentioned  that 
those  found  upon  the  surface  are  all  in  accordance  with  what  we  know 
of  the  Indians,  who,  while  occupants  of  the  Atlantic  coast  of  North 
America,  were  dwellers  in  a  densely  wooded  country,  with  the  distribu 
tion  of  land  and  water  as  it  now  is ;  but  are  not  these  palaeolithic 
implements  wholly  out  of  place  in  like  positions  ?  One  can  scarcely 
conceive  of  any  use  for  a  "turtle-back  celt,"  or  for  some  of  its  mod 
ifications  such  as  are  seen  in  the  limited  range  of  patterns  of  the  older 
forms,  unless,  perhaps  as  a  rude  weapon.  If  the  environment  of  a 
race  to  any  important  extent  determines  the  patterns  of  its  weapons  of 
war,  and  of  the  chase,  as  well  as  its  domestic  implements,  then  it  is 
clearly  evident  that  the  well  known  forms  of  Indian  stone  implements 
most  readily  met  their  requirements  ;  and  with  this  people,  depending 
so  largely  upon  their  skill  with  the  bow  for  their  subsistence,  and  armed 
with  hatchets  of  another  pattern,  these  palaeolithic  implements  are 
unquestionably  out  of  place.  They  are  so  far  different,  and  more 
primitive  in  construction,  as  to  suggest  their  use  at  a  time  long  prior 
to  the  discovery  of  the  bow,  when  another,  and  less  wary  fauna  must 
needs  be  hunted,  and  they  also  indicate  a  lower  degree  of  culture  than 
that  of  the  Indian  at  the  time  of  the  discovery  of  the  continent  by 
Columbus. 

It  has  been  shown  that  a  variation  in  the  physical  condition  of  this 
country  both  as  to  distribution  of  land  and  water,  and  climate,  with 
concomitant  differences  of  fauna  and  flora,  obtained  during  the  glacial 


514  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

epoch ;  and  to  this  period,  or  to  a  subsequent  one  of  shorter  duration! 
when  a  second  glaciation  of  these  valleys  occurred,  it  would  be  more 
reasonable  to  ascribe  these  rudely  fashioned  implements,  even  if  found 
only  on  the  surface,  but  which,  by  their  presence  in  the  drift  gravels, 
give  us  a  faint  glimpse  of  the  primal  race  that  occupied  our  shores. 

When  also,  we  consider  that  the  several  conditions  of  glacial  times 
were  largely  those  of  Greenland  and  arctic  America,  and  that  there  is 
unbroken  land  communication  between  the  desolate  regions  of  the 
latter  and  our  own  more  favored  land,  and  more  important  than 
all,  that  there  now  dwells  in  this  ice-clad  country  a  race  which,  not 
only  in  the  distant  past,  but  until  recently,  used  stone  implements  of 
rude  patterns ;  it  is  natural  to  infer  that  the  traces  of  a  people  found 
here,  under  circumstances  that  demonstrate  a  like  condition  of  the 
country  during  their  occupancy,  are  really  traces  of  the  same  people. 

This  opinion,  however,  has  been  frequently  questioned,  and  grave 
doubts  expressed  as  to  the  relationship  of  American  palaeolithic  man 
and  the  modern  Eskimo.  The  publication  of  the  recent  volume  of 
Prof.  Wm.  Boyd  Dawkins,  entitled  "Early  Man  in  Britain,"210  renders  it 
desirable,  to  pursue  this  subject  somewhat  further,  although  the  marked 
similarity  of  the  European  and  American  palaeolithic  implements,  and 
of  the  circumstances  under  which  they  occur,  have  been  dwelt  upon, 
and  the  recent  remarks  of  M.  Mortillet,  on  this  subject,  quoted  in  full. 
The  conclusions  of  Prof.  Dawkins  are  of  unusual  interest,  inasmuch 
as  his  impression  is  that  the  older  palaeolithic  man  became  totally  ex 
tinct  and  the  later  palaeolithic  or  "  Cave-man  "  was  of  a  different 
origin.  This  opinion  is  certainly  at  variance  with  the  traces  of  post 
glacial  palaeolithic  man,  as  found  on  the  Atlantic  coast  of  America. 
The  conclusions  of  Mr.  Dawkins  may  be  briefly  stated,  as  follows  : 

Palaeolithic  man  is  separately  considered  as  the  River-drift  man  and 
the  Cave-man ;  the  former  believed  to  be  much  the  older  people  and 
known  by  the  series  of  simplest  patterns  of  stone  implements,  "  found 


510  Early  Man  in  Britain,  by  W.   Boyd  Dawkins,   chaps,  vi  and  vii,  p.   124  et    seq.     London, 
MacMillan  and  Co.,  1880. 


PALAEOLITHIC   IMPLEMENTS.  515 

in  the  late  Pleistocene  river  beds."  This  River-drift  man  wandered 
over  the  greater  part  of  Europe,  and  Asia,  leading  "  a  wandering  feral 
life  under  feral  conditions  *  *  *  *  a  hunter  of  a  very  low  order,  but 
not  lower  than  the  modern  Australian."  The  Cave-man,  on  the  con 
trary,  was  greatly  restricted  in  his  range,  which  of  itself  is  held  to  be  in 
dicative  of  different  age  and  race,  and  was  far  in  advance  of  the  River- 
drift  man,  in  the  variety  and  workmanship  of  his  implements  and 
weapons.  If  not  two  distinct  peoples,  these  River-drift  and  Cave 
men  are  certainly  sections  of  the  same  race,  which  found  their  way 
into  Europe  at  widely  different  times,  the  River-drift  man  being  of  far 
higher  antiquity,  and  lived  countless  ages  before  the  arrival  of  the 
Cave-man.  "We  are  without  a  clue,"  writes  our  author  "to  the 
ethnology  of  the  River-drift  man,  who  most  probably  is  as  completely 
extinct  at  the  present  time  as  the  woolly  rhinoceros  or  the  cave-bear ; 
but  the  discoveries  of  the  last  twenty  years  have  tended  to  confirm  the 
identification  of  the  Cave-man  with  the  Eskimo." 

In  the  earlier  chapters  of  this  volume,  reference  has  been  frequently 
made  to  the  occurrence  of  rude  arrowpoints,  scrapers,  and  other  forms 
of  stone  implements  made  of  argillite  which  suggest  an  origin  anterior 
to  the  ordinary  jasper  and  quartz  implements  of  the  Indians  ;  and  in 
the  description  of  the  open  air  workshop  sites  of  the  Indians,  where 
arrowheads  were  chipped  in  great  numbers,  the  absence  of  argillite 
flakes  in  the  accumulated  debris  was  noted. 

For  these  reasons  and  others  more  particularly  referred  to,  in  pre 
ceding  chapters,  it  is  believed  that  these  more  specialized  argillite  im 
plements,  although  found,  to  a  large  extent,  upon  the  surface,  and 
associated  with  objects  of  Indian  origin,  really  bear  a  closer  relation 
ship  to  the  rude  implements  made  by  the  American  River-drift  man, 
than  to  the  Indian  handiwork  of  more  recent  times.211  If  we  are  war- 


211  One  marked  result  of  the  deforesting  of  the  country,  and  its  constant  cultivation  has  been  to 
remove,  in  great  part,  the  many  inequalities  of  the  surface,  and  to  dry  up  many  of  the  smaller 
brooks.  The  hillocks  have  been  worn  down,  the  valleys  filled  up,  and  this,  of  course,  has  resulted 
in  bringing  to  the  surface,  on  the  higher  ground,  the  argillite  implements  which  were  at  consider 
able  depths,  and  in  burying,  in  the  valleys,  the  more  recent  jasper  and  quartz  implements  of  Indian 


516  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

ranted,  as  suggested  by  M.  de  Mortillet,  in  considering  the  Acheuleen 
hatchets  of  France,  the  flint  implements  of  the  River-drift  man  of 
England,  and  the  argillite  implements  found  in  the  valley  of  the  Del 
aware,  as  the  handiwork  of  the  same  people  ;  then,  tracing  the  parallel 
ism  further,  it  may  be  asked  whether  we  have,  in  America,  any  evi 
dence  that  this  earliest  or  River-drift  folk  became  extinct  here,  as  Mr. 
Dawkins  believed  was  the  case  in  Europe.  If  we  have  no  evidence, 
but  on  the  contrary  we  are  able  to  point  out  a  united  and  continuous 
series  of  indications  of  palaeolithic  man's  presence  from  so  remote  a 
period  as  the  deposition  of  the  Trenton  gravel,  until  the  comparatively 
recent  date  when  man  had  become  as  advanced  in  culture,  as  the 
Cave-man  of  Europe,  then  the  parallelism  of  the  two  continents  is 
so  far  broken,  that  the  culture  in  the  one  country  is  confined  to  one 
race,  and  in  the  other  it  is  indicative  of  two. 

Along  the  Atlantic  coast  of  this  continent  there  do  not  occur  geo 
logical  formations  of  a  character  favorable  for  the  development  of  that 
particular  phase  of  human  culture  known  as  Cave-life,  as  represented 
in  Europe's  prehistoric  annals  ;  but  the  same  improvement  in  the  pat 
terns  and  finish  of  stone  implements,  and  the  use  of  bone,  as  well  as 
stone,  and  all  the  distinguishing  features  of  Cave-life,  except  that  of 
the  artistic  representation  of  men  and  animals,  are  all  readily  traced  as 
the  gradually  acquired  impr6vements  of  the  descendants  of  the  ancient 
paleolithic  man,  who  in  nowise  differed  from  the  River-drift  hunter  of 
Europe. 

This  absence  of  geological  formations  calculated  to  preserve  the 
earliest  traces  of  man  in  unmistakable  condition,  and  the  scarcity  of 
fossil  remains  in  the  gravel  deposits  renders  the  problem  of  determining 
when  and  by  whom  this  continent  was  originally  populated  far  more 
difficult  to  solve,  than  the  like  problem  concerning  Europe  ;  but  not- 


origin,  that  were  left  upon  the  soil,  when  lost  or  discarded  by  the  red-man.  In  the  remnants  of 
forests  still  remaining,  where  no  such  disturbance  of  the  soil  has  occurred,  the  relative  depths  at 
which  argillite  and  jasper  respectively  occur,  indicate  the  greater  age  of  the  former.  This  is  also 
shown  by  the  position,  in  "meadow  mud"  of  the  so-called  fish-spears,  to  which  attention  has  already 
been  called. 


PAL/EOLITHIC    IMPLEMENTS.  517 

withstanding  these  disadvantages,  there  is  sufficient  evidence  remain 
ing,  to  warrant  the  assertion  that  the  palaeolithic  man  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  makers  of  the  argillite  spearpoints  on  the  other,  stadn  in  the 
relationship  of  ancestor  and  descendant,  and  if  the  latter,  as  is 
probable,  is  in  turn  the  ancestor  of  the  modern  Eskimo,  then  does  it 
not  follow  that  the  River-drift  and  Cave-man  of  Europe,  supposing  the 
relationship  of  the  latter  to  the  Eskimo  to  be  correct,  bear  the  same 
close  relationship  to  each  other,  as  do  the  American  representatives  of 
these  earliest  of  people  ? 

If  this  view  be  correct,  it  shows  that  the  sequence  of  events,  and 
advance  of  culture,  have  been  practically  synchronous  in  the  two  con 
tinents  ;  and  the  parallelism  in  the  archaeology  of  America  and  Europe 
becomes  something  more  than  a  "  mere  fancy."  Nor  is  it  improbable 
that  future  discoveries  in  Europe  will  bring  to  light  the  missing  links, 
which,  by  their  absence,  seem  to  separate  the  River-drift  hunter  from 
the  later  Cave-man. 

The  subjoined  table  shows  the  essentially  similar  characteristic 
features  of  the  prehistoric  archaeology  of  the  two  continents. 


AMERICA. 


Palaeolithic  implements  in  Trenton 
gravel. 

Argillite  implements  of  more  spec 
ialized  patterns  in  alluvial  deposits  and 
surface. 

Jasper  and  Quartz  implements  of 
North  American  Indian.  Polished 


EUROPE. 


Flint  implements  in  Pleistocene 
River-drift. 

More  specialized  flint  implements  of 
the  caves. 


Neolithic  stone  implements  of  highest 
grade.     Polished  stone. 


stone. 

Bronze. 

The  evidence  of  the  presence  of  the  Eskimo  far  southward  of  his 
present  range  rests  on  many  and  varied  facts,  some  of  which,  it  must 
be  admitted,  are  of  doubtful  value. 

It  has  been  urgently  claimed  that  no  traces  of  man  have  been  found 
along  our  seaboard  that  cannot,  without  violence  to  known  facts,  be 
referred  to  the  Indians  of  the  past  few  centuries,  and  therefore  we  a*e 
without  warrant,  in  introducing  a  hypothetical  race  to  explain  away  so 


5l  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

simple  a  matter  as  the  commingling  of  rude  argillite  and  elaborate 
jasper  arrowheads. 

The  manifold  indications  of  prehistoric  man  on  the  Atlantic  coast  of 
North  America  cannot,  however,  be  reduced  to  such  a  meagre  array 
that  a  mere  reference  to  the  Indian  is  all  that  is  necessary.  The  com 
monplace  occurrence  of  gathering  rude  arrowpoints  in  the  bottom 
lands,  and  of  finding  others  of  more  artistic  finish  in  an  upland  field, 
may,  to  a  superficial  observer,  have  no  further  meaning  than  that  these 
objects  are  relics  of  the  Indians  who  once  roamed  over  this  country ; 
but  to  him  who  gathers  tens  of  thousands  of  these  relics,  and  notes, 
with  conscientious  care,  the  position  in  the  earth  of  each ;  who  ram 
bles,  not  simply  over  ploughed  fields,  but  scrutinizes  every  exposure 
of  the  upturned  soil ;  digs  deeply  in  the  peaty  accumulations  of  the 
meadow  lands  and  scans  every  foot  of  the  steep  muddy  banks  of  tide 
water  creeks  ;  to  him,  these  abundant  relics  of  the  vanished  races  tell 
a  far  different  story,  and  hint,  in  no  uncertain  way,  of  diverse  origins. 
If  then,  all  are  not  Indian,  to  whom  shall  we  refer  the  others  except  to 
the  Eskimo? 

It  is  not  within  the  scope  of  this  volume  to  refer,  except  briefly,  to 
the  historical  evidences  of  the  presence  of  the  Eskimo,  south  of  the 
St.  Lawrence.  Dr.  Brinton212  says,  "  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  at 
one  time  they  possessed  the  Atlantic  coast  considerably  to  the  south. 
The  Northmen,  in  the  year  1000,  found  the  natives  of  Vinland, 
probably  near  Rhode  Island,  of  the  same  race  as  they  were  familiar 
with  in  Labrador.  They  contemptuously  call  them  Skralingar>  chips, 
and  describe  them  as  numerous  and  short  of  stature  (Eric  Rothens 
Saga,  in  Mueller,  Sagcenbibliothek)  p.  214).  It  is  curious  that  the 
traditions  of  the  Tuscaroras,  who  placed  their  arrival  on  the  Virginian 
coast  about  1300,  spoke  of  the  race  they  found  there  (called  Tacci 
or  Dogi)  as  eaters  of  raw  flesh  213  and  ignorant  of  maize  (Lederer, 
Account  of  North  America,  in  Harris,  Voyages)." 

If  we  could  with  full  confidence  refer  the  older  shell  heaps  and  all 
the  more  ancient  traces  of  prehistoric  man,  down  to  so  late  a  date  as 

212  Brinton.     Myths  of  the  New  World,  2d  ed.  p.  24.   New  York,  1876. 

213  "The  name  Eskimo  is  from  the  Algonkin  word  Eskimantick,  eaters  of  raw  flesh."    Brinton. 


PALAEOLITHIC    IMPLEMENTS.  519 

A.  D.  1300,  to  the  Eskimo,  the  archaeology  of  the  Atlantic  coast 
would  be  shorn  of  all  obscurity,  and  every  relic  would  possess  a  readily 
deciphered  history.  It  may  be  added,  that  in  view  of  the  results  of 
recent  archaeological  and  historical  research,  it  is  within  the  range  of 
possibility,  that  this  will  be  the  crowning  result  of  future  investigation. 

In  his  excellent  article  on  the  Tribes  of  the  Extreme  Northwest, 
Mr.  Ball 214  remarks,  "  my  own  impression  agrees  with  that  of  Dr. 
Rink,  that  the  Innuit  were  once  inhabitants  of  the  interior  of  America ; 
that  they  were  forced  to  the  west  and  north  by  the  pressure  of  tribes 
of  Indians  from  the  south,"  and  again,  "there  are  many  facts  in 
American  ethnology  which  tend  to  show  that  originally,  the  Innuit  of 
the  east  coast  had  much  the  same  distribution  as  the  walrus,  namely, 
as  far  south  as  New  Jersey."  The  conclusion  reached  by  Dr.  Rink,215 
to  which  Mr.  Dall  refers,  is,  that  the  "  Eskimo  appear  to  have  been 
the  last  wave  of  an  aboriginal  American  race,  which  has  spread  over 
the  continent  from  more  genial  regions,  following  principally  the  rivers 
and  water-courses,  and  continually  yielding  to  the  pressure  of  the 
tribes  behind  them,  until  they  have,  at  last,  peopled  the  seacoast." 

In  a  subsequent  publication  216  Dr.  Rink  has  repeated  these  conclu 
sions.  He  remarks,  "  Quant  a  1'evenement  qui  les  a  fait  emigrer  de 
leur  pays  primitif  et  se  diriger  vers  le  Nord,  je  suis  dispose  a  croire 
que  cela  a  etc  une  guerre,  mais  je  pense  que  cette  guerre  n'a  fait  que 
les  mettre  en  mouvement,  que  la  marche  vers  1'embouchure  a  ete  tres- 
lente,  et  que  la  duree  du  sejour  en  ce  lieu  s'est  prolohgee. 

"  D'autre  part,  j'ai  cherche  a  demontrer  que  c'est  dans  la  partie  nord- 
ouest  de  I'Amerique  du  Nord,  dans  la  region  du  Mackenzie  et  de 
1'Athna,  qu'il  faut  chercher  le  fleuve  ou  les  fleuves  a  1'embouchure  des- 
quels  les  Esquimaux  ont  developpe  leur  civilisation,  et  que  leurs 
ancetres  sont  issus  des  regions  attenant  aux  cours  superieurs  de  ces 
fleuves. 

"  En  effet,  la  grande  majorite  des  Esquimaux  se  trouve  en  Amerique, 

214 Contributions  to  N.  A.  Ethnology  (U.  S.  Survey  of  Rocky  Mt.  Region),  vol.  i,  p.  102. 
215  Tales  of  the  Eskimo,  London,  1875. 

21GCompte-Rendu  de  la  Congres  international  des  Arnericanistes :  L'habitat  primitif  des  Esqui 
maux;  M.  H.  Rink,  p.  331.  Luxembourg,  1878. 


52O  PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 

et  un  petit  nombre  seulement  habite  1'Asie.  Cela  parait  indiquer  que 
ce  peuple  est  originaire  du  continent  americain.  Cependant,  tout  en 
soutenant  cette  these,  je  ne  me  dissimule  point  que  cette  seule  con 
sideration  ne  suffit  pas  pour  que  la  question  soit  videe. 

"  Mais,  dans  mes  etudes  comparatives  sur  les  mceurs,  la  langue,  la  re 
ligion  et  les  traditions  des  differentes  tribus  esquimaudes,  j'ai  deja 
trouve  bien  des  choses  qui  confirment  la  these  de  forigine  americaine 
des  Esquimaux,  tandis  qu'au  contraire  je  n'ai  trouve  que  tres-peu  de 
faits  favorables  a  la  these  de  leur  origine  asiatique." 

If  we  accept  the  conclusions  of  Dr.  Rink,  that  the  Eskimo  is  of 
American  origin,  and  necessarily  occupied,  originally,  a  more  southern 
portion  of  the  continent,  than  that  to  which  he  is  now  confined,  every 
difficulty  in  the  solution  of  the  problem  of  the  antiquity  of  man  on  the 
Atlantic  seaboard  of  America  seems  to  vanish. 

It  has  been  shown  that  we  have  traces  of  early  man  that  are  appar 
ently  not  of  Indian  origin.  The  important  differences  that  distinguish 
them  from  Indian  handiwork  have  been  carefully  pointed  out,  and  fur 
ther,  it  has  been  shown  that  they  are  a  characteristic  feature  of  a  geo 
logical  formation,  that  indicates  that  they  are  of  greater  antiquity  than 
any  known  traces  of  the  Indian. 

The  meagre  evidence,  on  the  other  hand,  that  we  have  of  the  ad 
vent  of  the  Indian  on  the  North  American  continent,  is  strongly  sug 
gestive  of  his  Asiatic  origin,  and  possibly,  of  his  derivation,  in  part, 
from  a  submerged  continent,  of  which  we  have  a  trace,  in  certain 
islands  in  the  Pacific  ocean.  Their  arrival  in  America  probably  does  not 
date  from  a  period  sufficiently  remote,  to  afford  geological  evidences 
of  antiquity,  other  than  that  offered  by  certain  of  the  shellheaps. 

If  we  admit  the  Asiatic  origin  of  the  Indian,  and  the  American 
origin  of  the  Eskimo,  the  greater  antiquity  of  the  latter  is  evident,  and 
in  the  palaeolithic  implements  of  the  river  drift,  and  in  the  neolithic  im 
plements  of  the  surface,  we  have  the  remaining  traces  of  the  handi 
work  of  these  two  early  peoples,  who,  throughout  the  unnumbered 
centuries  of  prehistoric  times,  and  until  less  than  three  centuries  ago, 
were  the  sole  possessors  of  this  continent. 


THE 

ANTIQUITY    AND    ORIGIN 


OF   THE 


TRENTON  GRAVEL 


BY 

PROF.  HENRY  CARVILL  LEWIS, 

OF  THE  SECOND  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY  OF  PENNSYLVANIA. 


CHAPTER     XXXIII. 


THE  AGE  OF  THE  TRENTON  GRAVEL. 


THE  discovery  of  palaeolithic  implements  in  a  gravel  at  Trenton ' 
and  the  important  relation  which  this  holds  toward  the  question  of  the 
antiquity  of  man  in  eastern  America,  make  a  careful  determination  of 
its  age  a  matter  of  much  interest. 

While  in  the  present  state  of  our  knowledge,  we  can  fix  no  exact 
date  for  this  gravel,  it  is  possible  nevertheless  to  ascertain  approximately 
the  relative  geological  time  in  which  it  was  deposited.  To  solve  this 
problem  we  must  determine  in  the  first  place  what  relation  this  gravel 
holds  toward  all  the  other  surface  deposits  of  the  Delaware  valley,  and 
in  the  second  place  what  connection  each  or  any  of  these  deposits  has 
with  the  great 'glacier  which  once  covered  a  large  portion  of  northern 
America.  The  writer,  having  been  for  several  years  engaged  in  a 
special  study  of  the  more  recent  geological  deposits  of  southeastern 
Pennsylvania,  has  divided  them  into  a  series  of  distinct  formations ; 
of  which  the  oldest  is  a  clay  of  wealden  or  sub-cretaceous  age,  and 
the  newest,  a  modern  mud  which  is  now  forming  on  the  banks  of  the 
Delaware  and  other  streams.  Of  the  five  clays  and  four  gravels 
which  he  has  distinguished  for  convenience  of  study,  but  of  which 
several  may  hereafter  prove  to  be  of  closely  related  age,  it  will  be 
necessary  here  to  refer  only  to  those  which  bear  directly  upon  the 
subject  under  consideration. 

THE   YELLOW    GRAVEL. 

Nearly  the  whole  of  southern  New  Jersey  and  a  small  adjoining 
portion  of  Pennsylvania  are  covered  by  a  deposit  of  yellow  gravel 

(523) 


524 


PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 


which  has  been  variously  known  as  quaternary,  southern  drift,  etc.  It 
extends  southward  all  along  the  Atlantic  coast  in  the  region  of  tide 
water,  rising  some  two  hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the  ocean.  As 
it  caps  the  watershed  between  the  Atlantic  and  the  Delaware  (eleva 
tion  190  feet),  the  writer  has,  in  a  former  paper,  217  named  it,  for  con 
venience,  after  a  town  in  this  watershed,  where,  in  a  railroad  cut,  it  is 
well  exposed,  —  calling  it  the  "  Glassboro  gravel ;  "  but  in  the  present 
discussion,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  call  it  the  YELLOW  GRAVEL. 

It  is  characterized  by  small  waterworn  pebbles,  somewhat  eggshaped 
in  form,  seldom  above  an  inch  in  length,  usually  less,  and  composed  of 
quartz  or  quartzite  rocks.  There  are  also  occasional  pebbles  of  flint,  and 
of  fossiliferous  hornstone  and  chert.  It  contains  no  large  boulders 
and  has  no  pebbles  of  soft  or  readily  decomposable  rocks,  and  its 
pebbles  have  nearly  all  a  weatherworn  eaten  appearance.  Still  other 
circumstances,  such  as  the  great  amount  of  erosion  it  has  suffered,  and 
the  decomposed  state  of  the  beds  upon  which  it  lies,  point  to  the 
conclusion  that  it  is  an  ancient  deposit  of  aqueous  origin,  made  at  a  time 
of  submergence  in  preglacial  times.  Professor  Cook,  of  New  Jersey, 
states218  that  the  glacial  drift  overlies  and  is  more  recent  than  the  yel 
low  gravel.  This  gravel,  of  newer  tertiary  age,  is  bounded  on  the 
northeast  by  a  line  of  rocky  hills  which  extends  all  along  the  southern 
Atlantic  coast  parallel  to  the  ocean,  and  which  we  have  called  the 
UPLAND  TERRACE.219  This  Upland  terrace  crosses  the  Delaware  a  few 
miles  above  Trenton,  trending  towards  Princeton,  and  the  yellow  gravel 
is  not  found  above  this  point. 

THE   PHILADELPHIA    RED    GRAVEL. 

A  more  recent  gravel,  the  PHILADELPHIA  RED  GRAVEL,  is  confined  to 
the  immediate  valley  of  the  Delaware.  This  gravel  is  a  mixture  of  the 

^7The  Trenton  gravel  and  its  relation  to  the  Antiquity  of  Man.     Proe.  Ac.  Nat.  Sciences,  Phila. 
1880,  p.  296. 

218Report  on  Clays,  p.  17. 

2t9The  Surface  Geology  of  Philadelphia  and  vicinity.     Proc.  Acad.  Nat.  Sciences,  Phila.,  1880, 

p.  258. 


THE  AGE  OF  THE  TRENTON  GRAVEL.  525 

yellow  gravel  with  more  recent  pebbles  brought  down  the  river  valley. 
It  contains  numerous  pebbles  and  boulders  of  soft  triassic  shale  and  of 
other  rocks  of  the  upper  Delaware,  it  holds  waterworn  boulders  of 
sometimes  two  feet  or  more  in  length,  and  it  is  distinctly  stratified  in 
horizontal  or  undulating  layers.  This  red  gravel,  colored  by  peroxide 
of  iron,  is  more  clayey  than  the  yellow  gravel  and  lies  at  a  lower  level 
within  a  channel  cut  through  the  other  gravel.  The  writer  has  recog 
nized  the  representatives  of  both  of  these  gravels  in  the  same  relative 
positions,  on  the  Potomac  near  Washington. 

The  red  gravel  has  been  apparently  deposited  by  an  ancient  flood  of 
the  river  of  great  volume,  at  a  time  when  it  rose  one  hundred  or  more 
feet  higher  than  at  present.  The  presence  of  flow  and  plunge  motion 
and  of  alternate  sandy  layers  indicates  a  rapidly  flowing  current. 
While  its  stratified  character,  its  smooth  watenvorn  pebbles,  and  the 
soft  decomposed  rock  upon  which  it  rests,  all  show  that  it  was  not 
transported  by  ice,  yet  the  presence  of  boulders  which  can  be  traced 
to  the  northern  valley  of  the  river,  the  absence  of  all  traces  of  former 
life  in  the  gravel,  and  the  altitude  above  the  present  river  which  it  at 
tains,  point  to  the  melting  of  a  great  glacier  as  the  origin  of  the  flood 
which  formed  it.  It  is  more  than  probable  that  this  gravel  belongs  to 
the  CHAMPLAIN  EPOCH,  the  epoch  of  the  melting  of  the  great  glacier, 
whose  southern  terminus  in  the  Delaware  valley  was  near  Belvidere, 
sixty-five  miles  above  Trenton. 

THE    PHILADELPHIA    BRICK    CLAY. 

Resting  unconformably  upon  the  Philadelphia  red  gravel  is  the  next 
deposit  in  order  of  time — the  PHILADELPHIA  BRICK  CLAY.  This  clay, 
of  a  yellow  color,  and  of  varying  depth  and  purity,  is  confined  to  the 
valley  of  the  Delaware  and  its  tributaries,  and  is  characterized  by  the 
presence  of  numerous  boulders  which  become  more  frequent  as  the 
river  is  ascended.  The  writer  has  traced  the  boundaries  of  this  bould 
er  bearing  clay  up  to  the  glaciated  region  and  finds  that  it  uniformly 
rises  to  a  fixed  limit  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  to  one  hundred  and 


526 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


eighty  feet  above  the  river.  Where  the  valley  is  wide,  as  at  Philadel 
phia  and  Trenton,  the  clay  is  pure  and  fit  for  brick-making,  but  in 
narrow  or  steep  portions  of  the  valley  the  current  has  been  too  swift 
for  the  deposition  of  clay  and  it  is  represented  by  occasional,  stranded, 
waterworn  boulders.  This  clay  rests  against  the  upland  terrace  from 
Trenton  to  Philadelphia,  at  an  elevation  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet. 
On  the  Lehigh  river,  a  tributary  of  the  upper  Delaware,  where220  the 
bed  of  the  river  is  more  than  two  hundred  feet  higher  than  at  Phila 
delphia,  the  clay  rises  one  hundred  and  eighty  feet  above  the  river. 
Whenever  both  clay  and  gravel  are  present,  the  clay  lies  uncon- 
formably  upon  the  latter.  Generally  it  lies  in  a  series  of  crests  and 
hollows  upon  the  gravel,  the  clay  occupying  the  hollows  between  the 
crests  of  gravel.  The  following  section,  observed  in  Philadelphia, 
shows  six  well  marked  waves  of  gravel  and  clay. 


FIG.  426. 

Frequently  there  occur,  in  or  upon  this  clay,  boulders  of  large  size, 
Thus  in  Philadelphia  there  are  smooth  boulders  of  Silurian  rocks  be 
tween  four  and  five  feet  long,  at  an  altitude  of  one  hundred  feet  above 
the  river ;  and  on  the  Lehigh  above  the  Gap,  we  have  found  a  bould 
er  six  feet  long,  elevated  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  above  the  river 
at  that  place.  In  the  vicinity  of  Bethlehem,  thirty  miles  below  the  ter 
minal  moraine,  the  boulders  in  the  clay  frequently  show  glacial  striae. 
It  hardly  admits  of  doubt  that  these  boulders  were  borne  by  large 
cakes  of  floating  ice  derived  from  the  base  of  the  melting  glacier. 


220  We  designate  as  "  upper  Delaware,  "  the  steep  narrow  portion  of  the  river  above  tide  water, 
and  as  "  lower  Delaware, "  the  tidal  portion  of  the  river,  or  from  Trenton,  southward  to  Delaware 
bay. 


THE  AGE  OF  THE  TRENTON  GRAVEL.  527 

That  this  was  an  epoch  of  submergence  is  indicated  by  the  elevation 
of  the  deposit.  While  the  underlying  gravel  was  deposited  by  a  rush 
ing  flood,  it  was  not  until  quieter  conditions  had  prevailed  that  clay 
could  be  formed.  It  is  probable  that  this  clay  may  be  assigned  to  a 
period  when  the  land  stood  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  or  more  below 
its  present  level,  and  when  the  cold  waters  from  the  melting  glacier 
bore  ice  rafts  which  dropped  their  boulders.  No  shells  or  other  signs 
of  life  have  as  yet  been  found  in  the  brick  clay,  and  it  is  inferred  both 
that  the  water  was  fresh  and  that  it  had  a  temperature  too  low  to 
support  life. 

In  the  consideration  of  the  age  of  this  clay,  the  amount  of  erosion  it 
has  suffered  is  an  important  feature.  Unlike  the  modern  alluvial  clays 
of  dark  color,  it  does  not  appear  on  the  immediate  banks  of  streams, 
and  has  disappeared,  wherever  eroding  agencies  have  been  most 
active. 

Finally,  it  is  of  interest  to  find  that  the  clay  which  cements  the  un- 
stratified  " TILL,"  the  " ground  moraine"  which  covers  the  glaciated 
region  to  the  north,  is  of  a  character  so  similar  to  the  Philadelphia  brick 
clay,  that  there  is  a  strong  probability  that  the  latter  was  derived, 
in  great  part,  directly  from  the  grinding  base  of  the  glacier.  The 
Philadelphia  brickclay  becomes  more  and  more  stony  as  we  proceed 
northward,  until  in  valleys  at  the  base  of  the  terminal  moraine  of  the 
glacier  they  are  almost  as  numerous  as  those  of  the  true  glacial  till. 
Deposits  of  this  boulder-bearing  brickclay  have  more  than  once  been 
confounded  with  glacial -moraines.  The  latter,  however,  as  is  well 
known,  may  be  distinguished  by  the  abundance  of  angular  and  ice- 
scratched  boulders  and  by  the  absence  of  stratification. 

The  relation  of  the  Philadelphia  brickclay  to  the  till  will  be  further 
discussed  after  the  moraine  and  the  other  products  of  ice  action  have 
been  described. 

THE   TRENTON   GRAVEL. 

The  last  and  newest  of  all  the  gravels — a  formation  which  when  first 
studied  at  Philadelphia  seemed  of  slight  importance,  and  was  called  by 


528 


PRIMITIVE  INDUSTRY. 


the  writer  the  "RIVER  GRAVEL  AND  SAND,"  but  which  from  its  great 
development  at  Trenton  is  now 
appropriately  known  as  the 
"TRENTON  GRAVEL"  —  forms  the 
subject  of  the  present  paper.  At 
Philadelphia  it  lies  close  along  the 
river,  within  all  the  older  gravels, 
and  rises  but  a  few  feet  above 
the  water.  It  is  in  this  alluvial 
gravel,  the  latest,  except  the  re 
cent  mud  flats,  of  all  the  surface 
formations,  and  in  this  gravel 
only,  that  traces  of  man  have 
been  found. 

The  Trenton  gravel  at  Phila 
delphia  is  composed  principally 
of  a  sharp,  micaceous  sand,  which 
below  water-level  is  a  quicksand, 
overlying  a  clean,  dark  gray 
gravel,  whose  pebbles  are  made 
exclusively  of  the  rocks  forming 
the  upper  valley  of  the  river. 
The  pebbles  of  this  gravel,  unlike 
those  of  the  older  gravels,  are 
generally  flat — a  shape  character 
istic  of  true  river  gravels.  Quartz 
pebbles  are  much  less  numerous 
than  in  the  other  gravels.  Irreg 
ular  strata  of  "bar-sand"  fre 
quently  alternate  with  the  gravel. 
The  islands  in  the  river  and  its 
banks  are  made  of  this  gravel,  and 
from  data  obtained  from  artesian 
wells,  it  appears  that  in  the  middle  of  the  river  it  is  about  one  hundred 


2  wi 

c  .5 

H  "g 

11 

L-.S 


8  s 

ll 
«- 


34 


530 


PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 


MAP  OF  AREA 

OF 

TRENTON    GRAVEL, 

IN  VICINITY  OF 

TRENTON,  N.  J. 


THE  AGE  OF  THE  TRENTON  GRAVEL.  53! 

feet  deep,  lying  upon  rock.  It  therefore  fills  up  an  ancient  channel  of 
the  once  larger  river,  and  the  river  now  flows  upon  it.  Occasional 
large  boulders  lie  upon  the  sand. 

It  is  to  be  especially  noted  that  the  Trenton  gravel  is  bounded  by  a 
continuous  hill  of  older  red  or  yellow  gravel,  and  that  it  therefore  lies 
in  a  channel  previously  excavated  through  those  gravels,  down  to  the 
underlying  rock.  On  tracing  the  Trenton  gravel  up  the  river,  it  is 
found  gradually  to  extend  farther  from  its  banks  and  to  rise  to  a  greater 
elevation  above  it,  until  in  the  vicinity  of  Trenton,  thirty  miles  above 
Philadelphia  and  at  the  head  of  tide-water,  this  formation  extends 
several  miles  back  from  the  river  and  rises  between  thirty  and  forty 
feet  above  it. 

A  few  miles  above  Trenton  the  valley  of  the  river  narrows,  and  from 
here  up,  the  river  flows  upon  a  rocky  bottom,  and  the  Trenton  gravel 
is  shallow  and  confined  to  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  river.  It  forms 
a  low  terrace,  seldom  over  ten  feet  high,  and  extends  as  a  "  flat "  on 
either  side  of  the  river.  It  continues  up  into  glaciated  regions,  where  it 
appears  to  form  the  lowest  and  most  recent  terrace.  The  writer  has 
observed  similar  gravels  on  the  Schuylkill  and  Susquehanna  rivers,  and 
it  is  probable  that  they  occur  on  all  rivers  rising  in  the  glaciated 
region. 

THE    GEOLOGY    OF   TRENTON. 

The  great  development  of  this  formation  at  the  city  of  Trenton, 
and  the  archaeological  interest  attached  to  it  at  this  place,  call  for  a 
yet  more  detailed  description. 

Trenton  lies  at  the  junction  of  three  great  formations,  the  Azoic  or 
Gneissic,  the  Triassic,  and  the  Cretaceous.  A  narrow  belt  of  steeply- 
inclined  gneissic  rocks,  which  in  Pennsylvania  are  extensively  developed, 
passes  through  the  centre  of  the  city,  and  is  laid  bare  in  several  places. 
Resting  unconformably  upon  the  northern  edge  of  the  gneiss  are  a 
series  of  red  sandstones  and  shales  which  have  a  gentle  dip  to  the 
north.  These  belong  to  the  Triassic  formation,  which  extends  for 
forty  miles  up  the  Delaware,  and  which  is  intersected  by  frequent  trap 


532  PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 

dykes.  Immediately  south  of  Trenton  is  a  plastic  clay  of  lower  cre 
taceous  or  Wealden  age,  which  rests  upon  the  southern  edge  of  the 
gneiss,  and  dips  very  gently  toward  the  sea.  The  more  recent 
deposits  of  sand  and  gravel  lie  in  horizontal  strata  upon  these  three 
formations,  and  often  cover  them  so  completely  as  to  hide  them  from 
sight.221 

The  Trenton  gravel,  which  is  here  coarser  than  at  Philadelphia,  ex 
tends  in  the  shape  of  a  horse-shoe  eastward  and  southward  of  the  city 
of  Trenton.  It  forms  a  bay,  which  extends  fully  four  miles  back  from 
the  river,  and  which  has  one  extremity  in  Trenton,  at  "  Five  Points," 
and  the  other  at  a  distance  of  two  miles  below  the  city.  It  is  a  level 
plain,  which  is  bounded  throughout  by  a  hill,  on  which  appear  the 
older  yellow  or  red  gravels  and  the  brickclays.  Since  it  was  depos 
ited,  the  river  has  cut  down  through  it  to  the  gneiss  below,  forming  a 
bluff.  South  of  the  city  the  river  is  bordered  by  marshy  meadows 
formed  of  recent  alluvial  mud,  beyond  which  rises  the  bluff. 

The  writer  has  prepared  a  map  (page  530)  showing  the  extent  of  the 
Trenton  gravel  in  this  vicinity.  That  portion  of  the  map  which  is 
unruled  represents  territory  covered  by  red  or  yellow  gravel  and 
the  brickclays.  The  upland  terrace  bounding  these  older  deposits  is 
outside  of  the  limits  of  the  map.  The  recent  alluvial  mud  is  shown 
bordering  the  river  in  places  below  the  limit  of  tide-water,  but  is  absent 
above  that  point.  An  interesting  ancient  island  of  red  gravel  is  shown 
in  Pennsylvania.  It  will  be  noticed  that  the  Trenton  gravel,  confined 
to  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  river  above  Trenton,  suddenly  spreads 
out  like  a  bay  at  that  city.  Localities  where  palaeolithic  implements 
have  been  found  below  the  surface  are  marked  by  a  small  cross. 

The  Trenton  gravel,  as  exposed  on  the  river  bluff  and  in  the  nu 
merous  and  long  railroad  cuts  in  the  city,  is  seen  to  consist  of  a  dark 
gray  stratified  gravel,  overlaid  by  a  gray  sand  which  contains  occasional 
boulders.  The  gravel  contains  no  clay,  but  has  frequent  sandy  layers 


221  For  full  descriptions  of  these  formations,  see  Geology  of  New  Jersey.     8vo.     Newark,  N.  J. 
1868.    Geo,  H.  Cook,  State  Geologist. 


THE  AGE  OF  THE  TRENTON  GRAVEL.  533 

in  which  "  flow  and  plunge  "  structure  may  be  observed.  Its  pebbles 
are  smooth,  and  generally  of  a  flat  oval  shape.  They  are  composed 
entirely  of  the  rocks  of  the  upper  Delaware  valley.  This  gravel  has 
been  well  described  by  Professors  Cook  222  and  Shaler.223  The  sand 
overlying  the  gravel  varies  in  depth  from  three  to  eight  feet,  and  has 
all  the  characters  of  a  true  river  sand.  Waterworn  boulders  frequently 
lie  in  or  upon  this  sand,  and  are  rarely  eight  feet  in  length.  It  is  dif 
ficult  to  account  for  the  presence  of  such  large  boulders,  except  by 
assuming  that  they  have  been  dropped  from  ice-rafts  which  floated 
down  the  once  greatly  enlarged  river.  They  were  dropped  at  a  time 
immediately  subsequent  to  that  in  which  the  gravel  was  deposited  and 
when  the  violence  of  the  flood  had  diminished.  The  depth  of  the 
Trenton  gravel  varies  from  perhaps  forty  feet  in  the  centre  of  the 


FIG.  428.— Section  across  the  river  at  North  Trenton,      a,   Philadelphia  brickclay  with  boulders;    b, 
Trenton  gravel ;  c,  Delaware  river. 

"horse-shoe,"  near  the  river,  to  six  or  eight  feet  near  its  edges.  Near 
the  house  of  Dr.  Abbott,  not  far  from  the  extremity  of  the  "  horse-shoe," 
the  Trenton  gravel  and  sand  is  about  fourteen  feet  thick  and  overlies 
the  series  of  older  strata  which  here  compose  the  greater  part  of  the 
bluff.  The  following  section  is  seen  about  two  miles  south  of  Trenton. 


THE   TRENTON    GRAVEL   A   TRUE    RIVER    GRAVEL. 

The  presence  of  large  boulders  in  the  bluff  at  Trenton,  and  the  ex 
tent  and  depth  of  the  gravel  at  this  place,  have  led  to  the  supposition 
that  there  was  here  the  extremity  of  a  glacial  moraine.  Yet  the  absence 


222  Annual  Report,  1877,  p.  21. 

223  Annual  Report  of  Peabody  Museum,  1877,  P*  44- 


534  PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 

of  "till"  and  of  scratched  boulders,  the  absence  of  glacial  striae  upon 
the  rocks  of  the  valley,  and  the  stratified  character  of  the  gravel,  all 
point  to  water  action  alone  as  the  agent  of  deposition.  The  depth 
of  the  gravel  and  the  presence  of  the  bluff  at  this  point,  are  ex 
plained  by  the  peculiar  position  that  Trenton  occupies  relatively  to  the 
river. 

Trenton  is  in  a  position  where  naturally  the  largest  amount  of  a  river 
gravel  would  be  deposited,  and  where  its  best  exposures  would  be 
exhibited.  It  is  at  the  point  where  a  long,  narrow  valley,  with 
precipitous  banks  and  continuous  downward  slope,  opens  out  into  a 
wide,  alluvial  plain  at  a  lower  level.  It  is  here  that  the  rocky  floor 
of  the  river  suddenly  descends  to  ocean  level,  and  even  sinks  below 
it,  forming  the  limit  of  tide-water.  Thus  any  drift  material  which  the 
flooded  river  swept  down  its  channel  would  here,  upon  meeting  tide 
water,  be  in  great  part  deposited.  Boulders  which  had  been  rolled 
down  the  inclined  floor  of  the  upper  valley  would  here  stop  in 
their  course  and  all  be  heaped  up  with  the  coarser  gravel  in  the 
more  slowly  flowing  water,  except  such  as  cakes  of  floating  ice  could 
carry  oceanward.  On  the  other  hand,  the  finer  gravel  and  sand 
would  be  deposited  farther  down  the  river.  Thus  it  is  that  the 
material,  which  at  Philadelphia  is  generally  fine,  grows  coarser  as 
the  river  is  ascended. 

We  have  seen  that  the  gravel  which  at  Philadelphia  forms  the 
bed  of  the  river  and  rises  only  slightly  above  it,  at  Trenton  forms 
a  cliff  nearly  fifty  feet  high.  The  river  has  cut  through  the  gravel 
at  Trenton,  but  still  flows  upon  it  at  Philadelphia.  The  fact  follows 
as  a  natural  consequence  of  the  position  of  Trenton.  Having  heaped 
up  a  mass  of  detritus  in  the  old  river  channel  as  an  obstruction 
at  the  mouth  of  the  gorge,  the  river,  so  soon  as  its  volume  di 
minished,  would  immediately  begin  wearing  away  a  new  channel 
for  itself  down  to  ocean  level.  This  would  be  readily  accomplished 
through  the  loose  material,  and  would  be  stopped  only  when  rock 
was  reached.  On  the  other  hand,  that  gravel  which  had  been  de 
posited  at  places  farther  down  the  river  where  its  bottom  was  below 


THE  AGE  OF  THE  TRENTON  GRAVEL. 


535 


ocean  level,  would  remain  uneroded,  or  nearly  so.  When  the  river 
had  attained  the  level  of  the  ocean  there  would  be  no  occasion  to 
cut  a  deep  channel,  and  it  would  therefore  flow  on  top  of  the  gravel 
which  it  had  deposited. 

It  is  necessary  that  this  point  should  be  understood,  since  it  has 
been  thought  that  to  account  for  the  high  bank  at  Trenton,  an  ele 
vation  of  the  land  must  have  occurred.  It  will  be  seen  that  the 
present  explanation  requires  no  change  of  level  from  that  at  present 
existing.  An  increase  in  the  volume  of  the  river  will  explain  all  the 
facts.  The  accompanying  diagram  will  render  this  more  clear. 


a.  8 

6.    6 

c.  2 

d.  6 

e.  8 


/.20 


» 


*• 


Fir,.  429. —  Section  of  bluff  two  miles  south  of  Trenton,  New  Jersey,  a,  b,  TRENTON  GRAVEL; 
Implements  —  a,  fine  gray  sand  (boulder,) ;  b,  coarse  sandy  gravel ;  c,  red  gravel;  d, 
yellow  gravel  (preglacial) ;  <?,  plastic  clay  (Wealden) ;  f,  fine  yellow  sand  (Hastings?) ; 
g,  gneiss;  h,  alluvial  mud;  t,  Delaware  river. 

The  fact  of  the  river  having  cut  through  the  gravel  at  Trenton, 
while  at  Philadelphia  it  flows  upon  it,  is  due  to  the  configuration 
of  the  rock  floor  of  the  river,  which  at  Trenton  rises  above  ocean 
level,  and  at  Philadelphia  lies  nearly  100  feet  below  it. 

A  few  miles  north  of  Trenton,  all  the  older  oceanic  gravels  dis 
appear  and  two  formations  alone  remain.  These  are  the  Philadelphia 
boulder-bearing  brickclay  and  the  Trenton  gravel.  Both  are  con 
fined  to  the  valley,  and  until  we  reach  the  region  once  covered  by 
the  glacier,  no  drift  of  any  kind  occurs  above  the  limit  of  the  brick- 
clay. 

The  Trenton  gravel,  now  confined  to  the  sandy,  flat  borders  of  the 
river,  corresponds  to  the  "  intervale  "  of  New  England  rivers,  and 


53^  PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 

lies  within  a  channel  cut  through  the  brick  clays.  That  it  is  much 
more  recent  than  the  brickclay  is  shown  both  by  the  fresh  appearance 
of  its  pebbles,  and  by  the  less  amount  of  erosion  it  has  suffered.  Un 
like  the  land  covered  by  older  surface  formations,  that  covered  by  the 
Trenton  gravel  is  remarkably  level  and  free  from  hillocks  or  ravines. 
The  change  in  topography  may  be  well  seen  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Trenton,  and  can  be  noticed  almost  anywhere  along  the  valley.  This 
difference  is  much  more  marked  when  comparison  is  made  with  the 
oceanic  gravels.  The  Trenton  gravel  exhibits  a  topography  peculiar 
to  a  true  river  gravel.  Frequently,  instead  of  forming  a  flat  plain,  it 
forms  higher  ground  close  to  the  present  river  channel  than  it  does 
near  its  ancient  bank.  Moreover,  not  only  does  the  ground  thus  slope 
downward  on  retreating  from  the  river,  but  the  boulders  become 
smaller  and  less  abundant.  Both  of  these  facts  are  in  accordance  with 
the  laws  of  river  deposits.  In  a  time  of  flood  the  rapidly  flowing 
water  in  the  main  channel,  bearing  detritus,  is  checked  by  the  more 
quiet  waters  at  the  side  of  the  river,  and  is  forced  to  deposit  its  gravel 
and  boulders  as  a  kind  of  bank. 

The  section  across  the  Delaware  river  above  Trenton  (page  533) 
shows  this  topography  and  the  relation  of  the  Trenton  gravel  to  the 
brickclay : 

Having  now  shown  that  the  Trenton  gravel  is  a  true  river  gravel  of 
comparatively  recent  age,  it  remains  to  point  out  the  relation  it  bears 
to  the  glacial  epoch. 

THE   TERMINAL   MORAINE. 

At  or  near  the  southern  limit  of  the  great  ice-sheet  is  an  accumula 
tion  of  drift  hills  of  characteristic  rounded  shape,  forming  a  true  termi 
nal  moraine.  These  hills,  the  longer  axes  of  which  are  parallel  to  the 
motion  of  the  ice,  are  connected  together  laterally,  in  an  irregular 
manner  to  form  a  series  at  right  angles  to  the  ice  motion.  They  are 
composed  entirely  of  drift  and  form  an  irregular  ridge,  varying  in 
height  from  fifty  to  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet,  which  can  be  traced 
continuously  across  the  country. 


THE  AGE  OF  THE  TRENTON  GRAVEL.  537 

Across  northern  New  Jersey,  Prof.  Cook224  has  carefully  traced  it  from 
Staten  Island,  on  the  east,  to  Belvidere,  on  the  west ;  and  has  shown 
that  it  winds  over  hills  and  across  valleys  in  such  a  manner,  that  by  no 
other  known  agency  than  a  great  glacier,  could  it  have  been  produced. 
Mr.  Warren  Upham225  has  traced  it  from  Staten  Island,  eastward, 
through  Long  Island  to  Block  Island  and  Cape  Cod.  It  has  been  fol 
lowed  through  a  number  of  the  western  states  by  Profs.  Newberry, 
Winchell,  Chamberlin,  and  others.  In  Wisconsin,  Prof.  Chamberlin,226 
and  in  Minnesota,  Mr.  Upham,227  have  shown  that  partly  as  terminal 
and  partly  as  medial  moraines,  it  marks  the  limit  of  vast  "lobes"  of 
ice  connected  with  the  solid  sheet  farther  north. 

This  great  moraine,  traced  half  way  across  the  continent,  marks  the 
termination  of  the  ice-sheet  throughout  the  principal  portion  of  the 
last  glacial  epoch.  There  is  evidence  that  in  an  earlier  period  a  gla 
cier  advanced  south  of  that  limit.  The  moraine,  throughout  its  whole 
course,  is  composed  in  great  part  of  an  unstratified  deposit  of  angular 
and  rounded  boulders  and  pebbles  embedded  at  all  angles  in  a  stiff 
clay,  and  very  frequently  scratched  and  polished.  Occasional  strati 
fied  sandy  beds  also  occur.  A  curious  feature  of  the  moraine  which 
may  be  seen  from  Maine  to  Minnesota  is  the  "kettleholes"  or  bowl- 
shaped  depressions  with  no  outlet,  each  of  which  perhaps  marks  the 
place  where  a  mass  of  ice  was  buried  in  the  sand,  afterwards  to  melt 
and  form  a  hollow.  North  of  the  moraine,  the  glacier  has  left  un 
doubted  traces  in  the  universal  covering  of  unstratified  boulder  clay  or 
////,  in  the  smoothed  and  grooved  rocks,  the  transported  boulders, 
the  frequency  of  lakes  and  swamps  caused  by  unequal  distribution  of 
the  drift,  the  long  gravel  ridges  known  as  kames,  and  the  terraces  along 
the  rivers.  All  these  are  wanting  south  of  glacial  action. 

The  materials  forming  the  moraine  are  in  great  part  derived,  not 
from  far  distant  localities,  as  has  been  supposed  by  some,  but  from  the 


221  Annual  Reports  of  Geological  Survey  of  New  Jersey,  1877  and  1878. 
22r'Proc.  Amer.  Assoc.  Adv.  Sci.,  vol.  xxviii,  1879. 

226  Geology  of  Wisconsin,  ii,  p.  205,  et  seq.,  1877. 

227  Geological  Report  of  Minnesota,  p.  73,  1879. 

34* 


538  PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 

immediate  vicinity  of  the  moraine.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  till 
and  especially  of  its  lower  portions.  There  is  no  evidence  of  iceberg 
action  in  either  of  these  deposits.  As  already  stated,  the  Philadelphia 
brickclay,  on  the  other  hand,  holds  boulders  generally  brought  from 
long  distances. 

The  moraine  on  the  Delaware,  sixty  miles  above  Trenton,  is  dis 
tinctly  marked  on  both  sides  of  the  river.  In  the  valley,  its  materials 
have  been  modified  by  water  action  and  spread  out  near  Belvidere  as 
a  plain  of  stratified  gravel.  The  pebbles  on  the  higher  ground  show 
glacial  scratches,  while  those  in  the  valley  have  been  subsequently 
waterworn.  In  Pennsylvania,  the  glacier  extended  several  miles  south 
of  the  moraine,  which,  near  the  Delaware,  is  medial  rather  than  termi 
nal,  indicating  that  while  the  main  body  of  the  ice  came  from  the 
northwest  along  the  southern  side  of  the  Kittatinny  Mountain,  anoth 
er  lobe  came  from  the  north  through  the  Delaware  Water  Gap,  and, 
joining  the  first,  flowed  towards  the  Wind  Gap.  At  the  subsequent 
meeting  of  the  glacier,  either  the  ice  or  the  morainic  material  so 
blocked  up  the  WTater  Gap,  as  to  form  temporary  lakes  north  of  that 
point,  by  damming  back  the  water.  Thus  we  find,  in  the  vicinity  of 
Stroudsburg,  Pennsylvania,  a  series  of  beautiful,  level-topped  terraces, 
the  highest  rising  seventy-five  feet  above  Brodhead's  creek.  Here, 
too,  is  what  appears  to  be  a  "kame," — a  long,  steep  ridge  of  stratified 
gravel  formed  probably  by  sub-glacial  streams,  and  afterwards  partially 
covered  by  the  terrace  material.  These  curious  features  of  glaciated 
regions  have  been  well  described  by  Rev.Geo.  F.  Wright228  in  Massa 
chusetts,  by  Mr.  Warren  Upham229  in  New  Hampshire  and  Vermont, 
and  by  Prof.  G.  H.  Stone230  in  Maine,  and  it  is  shown  that  while  more 
recent  than  the  "  till,"  they  are  older  than  the  stratified  valley  drift. 

The  whole  drainage  area  of  the  Delaware,  north  of  the  Water  Gap, 
shows  undoubted  evidences  of  glaciation.  There  are  many  facts 


228  proc.  Boston  Soc.  Nat.  Hist.,  vol.  xix,  p.  47;  vol.  xx,  p.  210. 

229  Amer.  Journ.  Science,  Dec.  1877,  p.  460;  New  Hampshire  Geological  Survey,  vol.  iii. 

230  proc.  Amer.  Assoc.  Adv.  Science,  vol.  xxix,  1880. 


THE  AGE  OF  THE  TRENTON  GRAVEL.  539 

which  indicate  that  the  ice  even  close  to  its  lower  terminus  had  a 
thickness  of  over  one  thousand  feet,  which  increased  northward. 
Penobscot  Knob,  2,100  above  the  sea  and  probably  not  over  twenty 
miles  north  of  the  limit  of  the  glacier  shows  transported  boulders  and 
glacial  scratches  on  its  very  summit ;  while  in  the  Wyoming  valley, 
immediately  north,  the  presence  of  a  glacier  is  shown  by  terraces  and 
kames. 

THE    AGE    OF   THE    PHILADELPHIA    BRICK    CLAY. 

In  discussing  the  origin  of  the  Trenton  gravel,  it  will  be  most  im 
portant  that  the  age  of  the  Philadelphia  brickclay — a  formation  di 
rectly  connected  with  the  melting  of  the  glacier — should  be  considered. 
We  have  already  seen  that  while  both  the  brickclay  and  the  Trenton 
gravel  are  confined  to  the  same  valley,  the  former  is  of  much  greater 
extent  than  the  latter,  and  was  deposited  at  an  earlier  age.  North  of 
the  moraine  it  is  not  uncommon  to  find  stratified  sands  alternately  with 
beds  of  clay,  but  in  no  case  has  the  Trenton  gravel  been  observed 
either  to  contain  beds  of  clay  or  to  alternate  with  them,  and  the  con 
clusion  already  arrived  at,  that  the  Trenton  gravel  lies  within  a  channel 
which  had  been  excavated  through  the  brickclay,  is  confirmed  by 
all  the  facts  observed.  If,  therefore,  it  can  be  shown  that  the  Phila 
delphia  brickclay  is  of  Champlain  age,  and  subsequent  to  the  forma 
tion  of  the  "till,"  it  will  necessarily  follow  that  the  Trenton  gravel  be 
longs  to  the  extreme  end  of  glacial  times,  or  is  post-glacial. 

At  Bethlehem,  Pennsylvania,  some  fifteen  miles  below  the  moraine, 
a  most  instructive  section  is  exposed.  Here,  upon  the  summit  of  a 
hill  rising  one  hundred  and  eighty  feet  above  the  Lehigh  river,  the 
brickclay,  holding  large  smooth  boulders,  lies  unconformably  upon  a 
deep  deposit  of  a  stratified  gravel,  intermediate  in  its  characters  be 
tween  the  "modified  drift"  of  glaciated  regions  and  the  Philadelphia 
red  gravel.  The  gravel,  of  which  thirty  feet  in  depth  is  exposed,  is 
distinctly  stratified,  and  is  composed  of  waterworn  pebbles  of  small 
size,  with  occasional  coarse  sandy  layers,  and  with  no  boulders.  Iden- 


540  PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 

tical  sections  may  be  observed  in  the  kames  and  terraces  north  of  the 
Delaware  Water  Gap.  It  is  a  well  established  fact  that  these  forma 
tions  overlie  and  are  more  recent  than  the  unmodified  till,  which  was 
deposited  both  as  the  terminal  moraine,  or  beneath  the  ice-sheet,  as  a 
ground  moraine ;  and  represent  stages  in  the  melting  of  the  glacier. 
The  Philadelphia  brickclay,  now  shown  to  be  still  more  recent,  be 
longs,  therefore,  to  a  late  portion  of  the  Champlain  period.  It  appears 
to  have  been  formed  at  a  period  of  submergence  after  the  retreat  of 
the  glacier. 

It  is  probable  that  in  many  places  the  water  from  the  melting  glacier 
was  dammed  back  so  as  to  form  inland  lakes,  and  so  allow  a  quiet  dep 
osition  of  the  fine  sediment  forming  the  clay. 

A  study  of  the  valley  of  the  Lehigh  river  throws  much  light  upon 
the  age  of  the  brickclay.  In  the  narrow  valley  extending  from  gla 
ciated  regions  down  to  the  Lehigh  Water  Gap,  the  clay  is  represented 
by  waterworn  boulders,  often  of  large  size,  stranded  on  the  banks. 
These  are  most  numerous  near  the  river,  and  are  very  scarce  at  their 
extreme  outer  limit,  one  hundred  and  eighty  feet  above  the  water. 
From  the  Lehigh  Gap  to  the  Delaware  the  valley  is  broad  and  the 
clay  finely  developed.  Its  boulders  are  so  very  much  more  numerous 
than  they  are  at  Philadelphia,  that  a  section  through  it  nearly  resembles 
a  section  through  a  moraine,  and  the  two  phenomena  have  been  con 
founded.  The  action  of  an  ice-bearing  flood  of  immense  magnitude 
is  clearly  shown  all  along  the  river.  Some  of  the  clays  which  border 
the  great  lakes,  rising  one  hundred  to  two  hundred  feet  above  them, 
are  perhaps  of  similar  age.  In  an  able  paper  on  the  age  of  the  Tren 
ton  gravels,  by  Rev.  G.  F.  Wright,231  who  has  examined  a  number  of  lo 
calities  with  the  writer,  the  calculation  is  made  that  at  the  melting  of 
the  glacier  of  the  upper  Delaware,  whose  thickness  was  fifteen  hun 
dred  feet,  and  area,  six  thousand  square  miles,  a  flood  arose  of  suffi 
cient  magnitude  to  account  for  the  whole  deposit  of  Philadelphia 
brickclay.  Prof.  Dana,  in  an  exhaustive  study  of  the  floods  produced 

"I  Proc.  Bost.  Soc.  Nat.  Hist.,  Jan,  19,  1881. 


THE  AGE  OF  THE  TRENTON  GRAVEL.  541 

in  southern  New  England  during  the  melting  of  the  glacier,  shows  that 
the  Connecticut  river  rose  one  hundred  and  fifty  to  one  hundred  and 
eighty  feet  above  its  present  level.  Many  authorities  might  be  cited 
to  show  the  universality  of  this  flood. 

It  therefore  seems  highly  probable  that  the  stratified  gravel  and 
sand  deposits  of  glaciated  regions,  and  the  Philadelphia  red  gravel 
and  brickclay,  represent  the  same  stage  in  the  melting  of  the  glacier. 
The  plain  of  modified  drift  in  the  vicinity  of  Belvidere  and  the  terraces 
at  Stroudsburg  may  have  been  formed  at  the  same  time  as  the  Phila 
delphia  red  gravel.  Whether  the  stratified  drift  which  forms  the  New 
Haven  plain233  belongs  to  the  epoch  of  this  same  great  flood,  or 
whether,  with  the  Trenton  gravel,  it  was  formed  in  more  recent  times, 
is  a  question,  the  discussion  of  which  brings  us  back  to  the  problem 
set  out  at  the  beginning  of  this  chapter  —  the  geological  age  of  the 
Trenton  gravel. 

THE  AGE  OF  THE  TRENTON  GRAVEL. 

From  the  facts  already  cited,  it  will  be  seen  that  two  hypotheses 
only  can  be  applied  to  the  Trenton  gravel.  It  is  either  /^/-glacial 
(A)  or  it  belongs  to  the  very  last  portion  of  the  glacial  period  (B) . 

The  view  held  by  the  late  Thos.  Belt234  can  no  longer  be  main 
tained.  In  his  numerous  papers  in  the  Quarterly  Journal  of  Geolog 
ical  Society  of  London,  and  in  the  Quarterly  Journal  of  Science,  he 
endeavored  to  prove  the  pre-glacial  age  of  the  implement-bearing  beds 
of  England  and  elsewhere.  In  a  paper  "  On  the  Discovery  of  Stone 
Implements  in  Glacial  Drift  in  North  America,"  he  fails  to  recognize 
any  distinction  between  the  gravels,  and  holds  that  the  Trenton  gravel 
is  older  than  the  brickclay  or  "  pre-diluvial,"  —  /.  e.,  pre-champlain. 
As  we  have  seen,  the  Trenton  gravel  is  truly  post-glacial.  It  only 


232  On  Southern  New  England  during  the  melting  of  the  Glacier.      Amer.  Jour.  Science,  vol.  x, 
Sept.  to  Dec.,  1875. 

233  Dana,  loc.  cit.,  p.  414. 

234  Quarterly  Journal  of  Science,  London,  January,  1878,  p.  55. 


54 2  PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 

remains  to  define  more  strictly  the  meaning  cf  that  term.  There  is 
evidence  to  support  both  of  these  hypotheses  now  set  forth,  and  it 
may  be  that,  in  considering  them  in  order,  both  may  be  found  to  be 
true. 

(A)  That  the  Trenton  gravel  is  a  post-glacial  river  deposit,  made 
at  a  time  when  the  river  was  larger  than  at  present,  is  a  conclusion 
warranted  by  many  facts.  We  have  seen  that  it  represents  the  very 
last  of  the  surface  deposits  of  the  upper  Delaware  valley.  It  cannot 
be  assigned  to  the  glacial  period,  except  by  assuming  that  there  have 
been  no  river  gravels  deposited  since  that  time  —  an  assumption  diffi 
cult  to  maintain.  River  gravels  which  are  truly  post-glacial  occur  in 
glaciated  regions  along  the  bottom  of  valleys.  These  lie  only  a  few 
yards  above  the  water,  and  are  bordered  by  terraces  of  stratified  drift. 
They  form  a  sandy  plain,  on  top  of  which  boulders  frequently  lie. 

Where  terraces  occur,  they  form  the  lowest  of  these  and  appear  to 
have  been  made  up  from  the  materials  of  the  older  deposits.  This 
same  sand  and  gravel  can  be  traced  down  the  river,  past  the  terminal 
moraine,  into  the  non-glaciated  regions.  At  Belvidere,  we  can  ob 
serve,  ist,  the  unstratified  moraine,  several  miles  back  from  the  river; 
2nd,  the  stratified  drift  formed  from  the  moraine  and  spread  out  as  a 
plain  at  a  lower  level,  and  which  is  of  the  same  age  as  the  terraces 
above  the  Water  Gap ;  3rd,  a  sandy  river  gravel  newer  than  either 
of  these,  which  forms  the  low,  sandy  plain  along  the  river  and  is  of 
limited  extent.  Farther  south,  we  find  the  same  gravel  all  along 
the  stream.  It  becomes  deeper  as  we  go  down  the  valley.  Frequently 
it  may  be  observed  to  form  a  bank  close  to  the  stream  and  to  slope 
gently  downwards  towards  the  side  of  the  valley — a  feature  already 
described  as  belonging  to  this  gravel. 

Finally,  on  reaching  Trenton,  we  find  this  same  gravel,  with  the 
same  characteristics,  but  of  greater  depth  and  extent,  spread  out  to 
form  the  plain  upon  which  part  of  that  city  stands.  There  has  been 
no  break  in  the  sequence  of  facts  observed,  and  the  conclusion  is 
forced  upon  us  that  the  deposit  at  Trenton  is  the  same  as  that  which 
borders  the  upper  parts  of  the  river,  ajid  that  both  are  post-glacial. 


THE  AGE  OF  THE  TRENTON  GRAVEL.  543 

If  the  Trenton  gravel  were  the  same  as  the  upper  terraces  of  the  gla 
ciated  regions,  there  should  be  some  traces  of  such  terraces  between 
the  moraine  and  Trenton.  Yet  none  such  have  been  observed,  and 
the  only  continuous  terrace  is  the  lowest  one,  which  finally  merges 
into  the  Trenton  plain. 

The  Trenton  gravel  differs  in  several  respects  from  the  stratified 
drift  of  the  New  Haven  plain  —  a  deposit  typical  of  New  England 
rivers.  During  a  recent  examination  of  that  locality,  under  the  gui 
dance  of  Prof.  Dana,  it  was  observed  that  it  resembled  the  gravel  of 
the  terraces  more  than  that  of  the  Trenton  plain.  Unlike  a  true  river 
gravel,  the  boulders  did  not  lie  on  top  of  the  deposit,  but  below  it,  as 
though  the  glacier,  in  its  retreat,  had  first  dropped  the  boulders  and 
then  covered  them  with  sand  and  gravel  carried  along  by  the  flood 
issuing  from  its  base.  The  New  Haven  plain,  unlike  that  of  Trenton, 
is  characterized  by  numerous  kettle-holes, —  the  result  probably  of  ice 
action, — and  all  of  its  features  suggest  that  it  was  formed  while  the 
melting  glacier  was  close  at  hand.  The  Trenton  gravel,  on  the  other 
hand,  shows  no  evidences  of  ice  action.  That  the  boulders  upon  its 
surface  were  dropped  from  ice-cakes  is  however  probable.  The  ma 
terials  of  the  gravel  are  composed  of  a  mixture  of  pebbles  brought 
from  the  stratified  moraine  drift  of  Belvidere  and  northward  with  peb 
bles  formed  in  the  river  bed  farther  south,  both  of  which  the  flood  has 
brought  down  and  restratified. 

A  flood  of  sufficient  extent  to  produce  the  deposit  at  Trenton  need 
not  necessarily  be  of  very  great  magnitude.  From  the  upper  border 
of  Pennsylvania  to  Trenton,  the  Delaware  descends  over  nine  hun 
dred  feet — an  average  fall  of  five  feet  per  mile.  Even  from  the  Dela 
ware  Water  Gap  to  Trenton  the  descent  is  about  four  feet  to  the  mile. 
Since  in  a  great  part  of  its  course  the  valley  is  a  narrow  one,  it  will  be 
seen  that  a  moderate  increase  of  the  volume  of  the  river  at  its  head 
waters  could  produce  all  the  effects  observed  at  the  point  where  the 
valley  suddenly  opens  out.  A  similar  post-glacial  flood  has  been 
recognized  in  England  and  upon  the  continent.  Mr.  Tylor235  calls 

235  Quart.  Journ.  Geol.  Soc.,  vol.  xxii,  p.  4^;  vol.  xxiv,  p.  103. 


544  PRIMITIVE   INDUSTRY. 

the  age  of  the  flood  the  "  Pluvial  period,"  remarking,236  that  "the 
existence  of  a  glacial  period  almost  necessitates  that  of  a  pluvial 
period,  commencing  prior  to  the  glacial  and  continuing  after  it,  occu 
pying  a  region  south  of  that  occupied  by  the  ice  and  snow." 

Although  the  Trenton  gravel  was  subsequent  to  the  great  melting 
which  produced  the  brickclay,  it  is  possible  that  it  was  immediately 
subsequent  to  the  final  disappearance  of  the  last  traces  of  the  ice 
at  the  headwaters  of  the  Delaware,  and  that  it  is  post-glacial  only  in 
a  local  sense.  It  is  more  recent  than  the  glacier  at  the  time  of  its 
retreat  from  Belvidere,  but  there  is  no  proof  that  the  glacier  did  not 
linger  many  ages  later  in  more  northern  regions. 

(B)  Thus  the  second  hypothesis  may  be  true,  as  well  as  the  first. 
In  considering  the  Trenton  gravel  as  entirely  post-glacial,  there  arises 
the  difficulty  of  assigning  a  sufficient  origin  for  the  flood  which  formed 
it.  No  flood  within  the  historical  epoch  has  been  known  to  at  all 
approach  in  magnitude  those  which  in  time  deposited  the  Trenton 
gravel.  No  boulders  of  the  size  found  in  and  upon  that  gravel  are 
now  carried  down  the  river  by  floating  ice.  At  the  time  of  the  Trenton 
gravel  floods,  the  lower  part  of  the  site  of  Philadelphia,  the  whole  of 
that  of  Bristol  and  Tullytown,  and  nearly  all  of  that  of  Trenton,  were 
submerged.  No  rain-storms  within  the  recollection  of  man,  or  men 
tioned  in  tradition,  could  have  supplied  such  an  amount  of  water, 
and  no  origin  for  such  extraordinary  rains  is  suggested,  except  under 
a  very  different  climate  or  by  evaporation  from  a  melting  glacier. 

That  the  climate  was  then  cold  is  further  indicated  not  only  by  the 
suggestion  that  there  was  then  probably  very  large  masses  of  boulder- 
bearing  ice  floating  in  the  enlarged  river,  but  also  from  the  fact  that 
fossil  remains  of  arctic  animals,  as  the  reindeer  and  walrus,  have  been 
found  in  post-glacial  deposits  in  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania,  which 
evidence  a  continuance  of  a  colder  climate  than  now,  after  the  disap 
pearance  of  true  glacial  conditions.  The  frequent  occurrence  of 
boulders  resting  upon  the  sand  overlying  the  gravel  suggests  the 

236  Loc.  cii.,  vol.  xxiv,  p.  120. 


THE  AGE  OF  THE  TRENTON  GRAVEL.  545 

grounding  of  large  ice-cakes  derived  from   some  mass  of  ice  large 
enough  to  be  called  a  glacier. 

Since  the  present  channel  of  the  river  at  Trenton  has  been  exca 
vated  after  the  deposition  of  the  Trenton  gravel  at  that  place,  and 
since  such  excavation  would  necessarily  begin  so  soon  as  the  river 
ceased  to  deposit  any  gravel,  it  follows  that  the  river  could  have 
flowed  on  top  of  the  deposit  at  Trenton  only  when,  as  a  flood  of  great 
volume  and  rapidity,  it  bore  along  large  masses  of  gravel.  Although 
possible,  it  is  difficult  to  separate  completely  such  a  flood  from  the 
melting  of  a  glacier.  Yet,  if  a  glacier,  it  must  have  been  very  differ 
ent,  both  in  age  and  extent,  from  that  whose  melting  caused  the 
Philadelphia  brickclay.  Judging  from  comparative  erosion  alone, 
one  might  be  induced  to  think  that  perhaps  as  much  time  elapsed 
between  the  deposition  of  the  brickclay  and  that  of  the  Trenton 
gravel  as  has  elapsed  from  the  latter  period  to  the  present  day. 

From  the  limited  extent  of  the  Trenton  gravel,  it  is  inferred  that  if 
caused  by  a  glacial  flood,  such  glacier  must  have  been  either  a  local 
one  or  at  least  have  had  its  southern  extremity  confined  to  the  Dela 
ware  valley.  The  melting  of  a  local  glacier  in  the  Cattskill  Moun 
tains  would  probably  result  at  the  headwaters  of  the  Delaware  in  a 
continued  flood  of  sufficient  volume,  if  supplemented  by  the  action 
of  floating  ice,  to  form  the  Trenton  gravel.  Whether  such  a  glacier 
was  a  lingering  remnant  of  the  great  glacier  which  had  retired  from 
Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey,  and  still  existed  farther  north,  or 
whether  there  was  a  separate  and  more  recent  glacier  belonging  to  a 
second  glacial  epoch,  is  as  yet  an  open  question.  There  are  not 
wanting  evidences  of  a  second  glacial  epoch  in  America.  Intercalated 
beds,  which,  according  to  their  geographical  position  contain  land 
plants  and  marine  shells,  have  frequently  been  found  with  true  "till" 
both  above  and  below  them.  These  offer  "undeniable  evidence  that 
animals  and  plants  occupied  the  land  during  temperate  interglacial 
epochs,  preceded  and  followed  by  an  arctic  climate  and  ice-sheets  like 
those  now  covering  the  interior  of  Greenland  and  the  Antarctic  conti- 
35 


546  PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 

nent."237  Prof.  Chamberlin,  of  Wisconsin,  in  a  recent  letter,  suggests 
to  me  that  the  Philadelphia  red  gravel  and  brick-clay  were  formed  at 
the  time  of  the  first  and  most  extended  glaciation,  and  a  channel 
excavated  through  it  during  the  interval  of  deglaciation ;  while  the 
second  advance  of  the  glacier  formed  the  New  Jersey  moraine,  and 
its  final  retreat,  the  Trenton  gravel. 

A  second  glacial  period  in  Europe,  known  as  the  "Reindeer  Pe 
riod,"  has  long  been  recognized.  It  appears  to  have  followed  that  in 
which  the  clays  were  deposited  and  the  terraces  formed,  and  may 
therefore  correspond  with  the  period  of  the  Trenton  gravel.  If  there 
have  been  two  glacial  epochs  in  this  country,  the  Trenton  gravel  can 
not  be  earlier  than  the  close  of  the  later  one.  If  there  has  been  but 
one,  traces  of  the  glacier  must  have  continued  into  comparatively 
recent  times,  or  long  after  the  period  of  submergence.  The  Trenton 
gravel,  whether  made  by  long  continued  floods  which  followed  a  first 
or  second  glacial  epoch,  —  whether  separated  from  all  true  glacial 
action  or  the  result  of  the  glacier's  final  melting,  —  is  truly  a  post 
glacial  deposit,  but  still  a  phenomenon  of  essentially  glacial  times  — 
times  more  nearly  related  to  the  Great  Ice  Age  than  to  the  present. 

THE    ANTIQUITY    OF   MAN. 

Interesting  as  is  the  solution  of  any  geological  problem,  it  is  doubly 
so  when  it  involves  the  question  of  the  antiquity  of  the  human  race. 
Archaeology  now  joins  with  geology  to  make  history.  When  we  find 
that  the  Trenton  gravel  contains  implements  of  human  workmanship 
so  placed  with  reference  to  it  that  it  is  evident  that  at  or  soon  after  the 
time  of  its  deposition  man  had  appeared  on  its  borders,  and  when 
the  question  of  the  antiquity  of  man  in  America  is  thus  before  us,  we 
are  tempted  to  inquire  still  further  into  the  age  of  the  deposit  under 
discussion. 

It  has  been  clearly  shown  by  several  competent  archaeologists  that 

237  Geol.  of  Minnesota,  Report  for  1877,  p.  37;    Report  for  1879,  p.  115. 


THE  AGE  OF  THE  TRENTON  GRAVEL.  547 

the  implements  that  have  been  found  are  a  constituent  part  of  the 
gravel,  and  not  intrusive  objects.  It  was  of  peculiar  interest  to  find 
that  it  has  been  only  within  the  limits  of  the  Trenton  gravel,  previ 
ously  traced  out  by  the  writer,  that  Dr.  Abbott,  Prof.  F.  W.  Putnam, 
Mr.  Lucien  Carr,  and  others,  have  discovered  these  implements,  in 
situ.  The  map  accompanying  this  chapter,  on  which  each  place  is 
marked  where  implements  have  been  found  in  place,  or  beneath  the 
surface,  illustrates  this  point.  At  the  localities  on  the  Pennsylvania 
Railroad,  where  extensive  exposures  of  these  gravels  have  been  made, 
the  deposit  is  undoubtedly  undisturbed.  No  implement  could  have 
come  into  this  gravel  except  at  a  time  when  the  river  flowed  upon  it 
and  when  they  might  have  sunk  through  the  loose  and  shifting  ma 
terial.  All  the  evidence  points  to  the  conclusion  that  at  the  time  of 
the  Trenton  gravel  flood,  Man  in  a  rude  state,  with  habits  similar  to 
those  of  the  River-drift  Hunter  of  Europe,  and  probably  under  a 
climate  similar  to  that  of  more  northern  regions,  lived  upon  the  banks 
of  the  ancient  Delaware,  and  lost  his  stone  implements  in  the  shifting 
sands  and  gravel  of  the  bed  of  that  stream.  The  term  "Eskimo 
period"  has  been  suggested238  for  that  of  the  Trenton  gravel,  in 
accordance  with  the  view  that  present  boreal  races  are  the  descendants 
of  the  ancient  palaeolithic  man. 

The  actual  age  of  the  Trenton  gravel,  and  the  consequent  date  to 
which  the  antiquity  of  man  on  the  Delaware  should  be  assigned,  is  a 
question  which  geological  data  alone  are  insufficient  to  solve.  The 
only  clew,  and  that  a  most  unsatisfactory  one,  is  afforded  by  calcula 
tions  based  upon  the  amount  of  erosion.  This,  like  all  geological 
considerations,  is  relative  rather  than  absolute,  yet  several  calculations 
have  been  made,  which,  based  either  upon  the  rate  of  erosion  of  river 
channels,  or  the  rate  of  accumulation  of  sediment,  have  attempted  to 
fix  the  date  of  the  close  of  the  glacial  epoch.  By  assuming  that  the 
Trenton  gravel  was  deposited  immediately  after  the  close  of  this 
epoch,  an  account  of  such  calculations  may  be  of  interest.  If  the 

238  Lewis.    Proc.  Acad.  Nat.  Sci,  Philadel.,  1880,  p.  308. 


54-8  PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 

Trenton  gravel  is  /^/-glacial  in  the  widest  acceptation  of  the  term,  a 
yet  later  date  must  be  assigned  to  it. 

When  a  student  of  surface  geology,  who  has  lived  south  of  glacial 
action,  examines  for  the  first  time  the  true  glacial  drift  and  sees  the 
kame-like  ridges  and  bowl-shaped  depressions  maintaining  regular 
outlines  and  steep  slopes,  he  cannot  but  be  struck  with  the  compara 
tively  recent  look  of  these  deposits.  He  cannot  but  believe  that  if 
the  great  periods  of  time  have  elapsed  since  their  deposition,  which 
some  geologists  maintain,  the  gravel  ridges  would  be  rounded  down 
and  the  kettle-holes  filled  up  by  the  erosive  action  of  frost,  rain  and 
wind.  Recent  investigations  in  glacial  geology  are  bringing  forward 
many  evidences  that  the  final  disappearance  of  the  glacier  in  eastern 
America  was  not  far  remote. 

Prof.  Chamberlin 239  remarks  that  "  no  sensible  denudation  has 
taken  place  in  Wisconsin  since  the  glacial  times  in  either  drift  bearing 
or  driftless  areas.  Mr.  Upham,240  speaking  of  the  lakes  which  dot  the 
surface  of  Minnesota,  says,  "  the  lapse  of  time  since  the  ice  age  has 
been  insufficient  for  rains  and  streams  to  fill  these  basins  with  sediment 
or  to  cut  outlets  low  enough  to  drain  them  ;  though  in  many  instances 
we  can  see  such  changes  slowly  going  forward." 

Rev.  G.  F.  Wright,241  in  a  paper  entitled  "An  attempt  to  calculate 
approximately  the  date  of  the  Glacial  Era  in  Eastern  North  America, 
from  the  depth  of  sediment  in  one  of  the  bowl-shaped  depressions 
abounding  in  the  Moraines  and  Kames  of  New  England"  finds  that 
the  accumulation  of  peaty  matter  in  a  typical  kettle-hole  in  Massachu 
setts,  whether  caused  by  growth  of  vegetation  or  by  winds  and  rains, 
is  equal  to  a  level  deposit  of  eight  feet  in  thickness.  At  the  rate  of 
one  inch  in  a  century,  which  is  probably  less  than  the  true  rate,  this 
would  place  the  close  of  the  glacial  epoch  at  less  than  ten  thousand 
years  ago. 

A  still  more  recent  estimate  has  l^e.en  made  by  Dr.  Andrews,242who, 

239  Geology  of  Wisconsin,  vol.  ii,  p.  632,  1877. 

240  Geology  of  Minnesota,  Report  for  1879,  p.  72. 

241  Amer.  Journal  Science,  vol.  xxi,  Feb.  1881,  p.  120. 

242  Transactions  Chicago  Academy  of  Sciences,  vol.  ii. 


THE  AGE  OF  THE  TRENTON  GRAVEL.  549 

from  calculations  based  upon  the  erosive  action  of  the  great  lakes,  con 
cludes  that  the  total  lake  deposits  made  since  the  glacial  epoch,  were 
formed  within  seventy-five  hundred  years.  Another  source  of  calcu 
lation  is  the  recession  of  the  falls  of  a  river  since  glacial  times.  The 
most  notable  calculation  of  this  kind  is  that  made  upon  the  recession 
of  the  Falls  of  Niagara.  A  gorge  seven  miles  in  length  has  been  cut 
from  Lewiston  to  the  present  falls.  Mr.  Bakewell  estimated  the  an 
nual  cutting  backward  of  the  falls  to  be  about  one  yard  a  year,  but 
Prof.  James  Hall 243  and  Sir  Charles  Lyell  244  thought  that  one  foot  a 
year  was  a  more  probable  amount.  They  showed  that  beds  contain 
ing  recent  shells  and  mastodon  teeth  occurred  in  the  banks  above  the 
gorge,  at  the  whirlpool,  three  miles  below  the  falls,  and  also  on  Goat 
Island  above  the  falls,  indicating  that  in  the  Champlain  epoch  the 
waters  of  Lake  Erie  extended  up  over  the  gorge  and  present  falls,  and 
that  since  that  period  a  large  portion  of  the  gorge  had  been  excavated. 
They  found  also  at  the  whirlpool  an  ancient  pre-glacial  channel, 
which,  having  been  filled  with  drift  in  glacial  times,  had  forced  the  river 
to  cut  a  new  channel  through  the  rock  since  that  period. 

There  are  here,  therefore,  data  for  calculating  the  close  of  the  gla 
cial  epoch.  If  the  whole  gorge  has  been  cut  out  since  that  epoch,  at 
the  rate  of  one  foot  per  year,  thirty-five  thousand  years  would  be  re 
quired.  It  has  been,  however,  more  than  once  suggested  that  a  por 
tion  of  the  gorge  is  pre-glacial.  Prof.  Dana245  supposed  about  one 
mile  of  it  to  be  pre-glacial,  but  Mr.  Belt 246  after  a  personal  investiga 
tion  concludes  that  the  gorge  above  the  whirlpool  was  excavated 
nearly  up  to  the  present  position  of  the  falls  in  pre-glacial  times. 

After  giving  the  evidences  upon  which  he  founds  his  opinion,  he 
says  : 247  "  If  the  conclusion  at  which  I  have  arrived  is  correct,  that 


243  Geology  of  New  York,  vol.  iv,  p.  383,  et  seq. 

244  Travels  in  North  America,  1841-2,  vol.  i,  p.  22,  et  seq.      See,  also,  Proc.  Geol.  Society  of 
London,  vol.  ii,  p.  77,  vol.  iii,  p.  595,  vol.  iv,  p.  19. 

245  Manual  of  Geology,  p.  590. 

246  Quarterly  Journal  of  Science,  April,  1875,  p.  135. 
WL.c.,  p.  154. 


55°  PRIMITIVE    INDUSTRY. 

the  gorge  from  the  whirlpool  to  the  falls  is  pre-glacial,  and  that  the 
present  river  has  only  cut  through  the  softer  beds  between  Queens- 
town  and  the  whirlpool,  and  above  the  latter  point  merely  cleared  out 
the  pre-glacial  gorge  in  the  harder  rocks,  twenty  thousand  years  or 
even  less  is  amply  sufficient  for  the  .work  done,  and  the  occurrence  of 
the  glacial  epoch,  as  so  measured,  will  be  brought  within  the  shorter 
period  that,  from  other  considerations  I  have  argued,  has  elapsed  since 
it  was  at  its  height." 

A  calculation  of  a  similar  kind  has  been  made  by  Prof.  N.  H.  Win- 
chell 248  upon  the  recession  of  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony,  since  the  last 
glacial  epoch.  These  falls,  in  the  Mississippi  river,  were  discovered 
in  1680,  and  a  continuous  record  of  their  recession  may  be  found 
since  then.  A  narrow  gorge,  formed  by  their  recession,  extends  from 
the  falls  to  Fort  Snelling,  eight  miles  from  the  river.  Below  this  point 
the  valley  widens,  and  is  deeply  filled  with  drift,  having  been  exca 
vated  in  pre-glacial  times.  From  the  falls  to  Fort  Snelling,  however, 
the  drift,  which  lies  above  the  rocky  walls  of  the  gorge,  has  been  cut 
through  so  as  to  form  a  bluff  on  either  side  ;  and  this  fact,  when  taken 
in  connection  with  others  pointing  to  the  same  conclusion,  clearly 
shows  the  post-glacial  age  of  this  gorge.  The  ancient  channel  of  the 
river,  now  filled  with  glacial  drift,  is  described  and  the  evidence  seems 
decisive  that,  since  the  glacial  epoch,  the  river,  having  been  forced  out 
of  its  old  channel,  has  cut  out  a  new  one  eight  miles  long,  through  the 
rock.  Unlike  the  rocks  at  Niagara,  those  at  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony 
are  horizontal  and  of  unvarying  composition,  and  any  conclusions 
made  here  will  be  of  much  greater  accuracy.  Prof.  Winchell  gives 
three  separate  measurements,  which  result  in  the  following  terms  of 
years  required  for  the  total  recession,  viz.  : — 1 2,103  years  ;  6,276  years  ; 
and  8,202  years.  He  holds  that  an  average  of  these  rates — 8,860 
years — represents  the  time  which  has  elapsed  since  the  maximum  cold 
of  the  last  glacial  epoch. 

Thus  we  find,  that  if  any  reliance  is  to  be  placed  upon  such  calcu- 

248  Geol.  of  Minnesota,  Annual  Rep.  for  1876,  p,  156  et  seq.  See  also,  Quart.  Journal  Geol. 
Society  of  London,  Nov.  1878,  p,  886. 


THE  AGE  OF  THE  TRENTON  GRAVEL.  551 

lations,  even  if  we  assume  that  the  Trenton  gravel  is  of  glacial  age,  it 
is  not  necessary  to  make  it  more  than  ten  thousand  years  old.  The 
time  necessary  for  the  Delaware  to  cut  through  the  gravel  down  to  the 
rock  is  by  no  means  great.  When  it  is  noted  that  the  gravel  cliff  at 
Trenton  was  made  by  a  side  wearing  away  as  at  a  bank,  and  when  it 
is  remembered  that  the  erosive  power  of  the  Delaware  was  formerly 
greater  than  at  present,  it  will  be  conceded  that  the  presence  of  the 
cliff  at  Trenton  will  not  necessarily  infer  its  high  antiquity ;  nor  in  the 
character  of  the  gravel  is  there  any  evidence  that  the  time  of  its  dep 
osition  need  have  been  long.  It  may  be  that  as  investigations  are  car 
ried  further,  it  will  result  not  so  much  in  proving  man  of  very  great 
antiquity,  as  in  showing  how  much  more  recent  than  usually  supposed 
was  the  final  disappearance  of  the  glacier. 

In  all  these  subjects  we  are  but  at  the  threshold  of  understanding. 
We  are  entering  a  field  where  many  sciences  meet  and  where  each 
must  help  the  other.  No  single  investigation  is  sufficient.  In  the 
present  discussion,  it  has  been  my  aim  to  define  the  age  of  the  Tren 
ton  gravel,  and  the  consequent  antiquity  of  Man  in  the  Delaware  val 
ley  solely  with  reference  to  geological  events  ;  and  that  I  have  not  al 
ways  read  aright  the  record  of  the  rocks  is  surely  probable. 

CONCLUSION. 

The  conclusions  to  which  I  have  been  led  may  be  briefly  summar 
ized  as  follows  : — 

I.  That  the  Trenton  gravel,  the  only  deposit  in  which  implements 
occur,  is  a  true  river  gravel,  and  is  the  most  recent  of  all  the  for 
mations  in  the  valley  of  the  Delaware  river. 

II.  That,  lying  as  it  does,  within  a  channel  cut  through  a  deposit  of 
clay,  of  Champlain  age,  it  is  apparently  post-glacial,  and  probably 
deposited  by  the  flooded  river  at  a  period  immediately  following 
the  last  glacial  epoch  upon  the  Delaware  river. 

III.  That  the  stone  implements  of  palaeolithic  type,  which  this  gravel 
contains,  indicate  the  existence  of  man  in  a  rude  state,  at  the 
time  of  its  deposition. 


INDEX, 


Abbott,  C.  C..  11, 201,  238,  281.  332,  339,  370, 

371,  391,  393. 
Absccom  Inlet,  Atlantic  Co.,  New  Jersey, 

shell-heaps  near,  447. 

Academy  of  Science,  Salem,  Mass..  11.20, 
54,  67,  68,  112,  172,  200.  220,  227,  305,  307, 
318. 

Adze,  New  Zealand,  51. 
Africa,  celts,  40,  45. 

"        perforated  pebbles.  402. 
Agricultural  implements,  195,  217. 

bones  and  tor 
toise-shells, 
used  as,  218. 
grooved,  or 
hoes,  223. 
spade-like.  223. 

Alaska,  stone  carvings  from.  395. 
Albany.  New  York,  State  Museum  at,  161. 
Aleutian  Islands,  shell-heaps  on,  214,  438. 
Algonkins,  Territory  occupied  by,  4. 
Alleghany  Mountains,  15,  270,  287. 
Allen,  J.  A.,  remarks  on  walrus  remains, 

from  New  Jersey,  483. 
American  Mus.  Nat.  Hist.,  New  York,  37, 

249. 

Amesbury  Nat.  History  Society,  229. 
"          Mass..  plummet  from,  229. 
Anchor,  stone,  243. 
Andrews,  Prof.  E.  B.,  339,  381. 
Animal  carvings,  323. 

"       mouldings  in  clay,  337. 

occurrence  of,  in  New 
York,  338. 

occurrence  of,  in  Mas 
sachusetts,  323. 

Apoeynum   cannabinum    used    for   cord- 
making,  147. 

Archeology  of  America  and  Europe,  par 
allelism  of,  517. 
Argillite  fish-spears,  274. 

"       rude  implements  of,  7. 

spearpoints,  254. 

"        use  of,  earlier  than  flint,  285. 
Arkansas,  scraper-like  implement  from, 

131. 

steatite  pipes  from,  327. 
Arrowhead,  found  in  tree,  77. 

human  bone,  pierced  by,  283. 
in  vertebra  of  elk.  77. 
"  steatite,  as  ornament,  397. 

Arrowheads,  abundance  of,  280. 
barbed,  293. 

"         triangular,  304. 
"  birds'  claws  used  as.  280. 

"  bone,  280. 

"  brass,  occurrence  of  on  Long 

Island,  421. 
duckies  Rock,  Penna.,  284, 

295. 

flakes  used  as,  284. 
how  attached  to  shafts,  279. 
leaf-shaped,  300. 
lozenge-shaped,  301. 
notched-based,  294. 
on  seacoast,  281. 

35* 


Arrowheads,  serrated.  303. 
stemmed,  289. 
triangular,  296. 
triple-notched-based,  294. 
unsym metrical,  282. 
used  as  knives,  279. 
Attleboro.  Penna.,  marble  from,  144. 
Awls,  bone,  212. 
'*          <b     occurrence  of  in  New  Jersey, 

212. 
"      stone,  109. 

"      abundance     of    in     Middle 

States.  111. 

"      double  pointed,  114. 
"      polished,  116. 
"      rude.ot  argillite,  116. 
Axe,  inscribed,  from  New  Jersey,  32. 
"     in  Museum  of  Rutger's  College,  New 

Jersev,  17. 

Axe-like  implement,  pointed,  30. 
Axe,  pointed,  from  California,  31. 
Axes,  stone,  antiquity  of,  34. 

Cham  plain  valley,  10. 
"      deposits  of,  33. 
"     double-edged,  25. 
"     double-grooved.  20. 
'•     Georgia,  11. 
'•     Gloucester  Co.,  N.  J..  18. 
"     grooves  of,  oblique,  Susque- 

hanna  valley,  8,  26. 
:      grooves,  position  of,  7. 
"        variation  in,  7. 
"     Lambertville,  N.  J.,  13. 
"     moundbuilders',  16. 
'     New  Jersey,  9. 
"     notched,  28. 

"         of  South  America, 

29. 

'     occurrence  of,  in  graves,  11. 
"     polished,  20. 
'     shortened  by  resharpening, 

"     scarcity  of,  in  New  England, 
10. 

Barnegat,  Burlington   Co.,  New  Jersey, 

fish-spears  from,  271. 
Beauchamp,  Rev.  W.  M.,  121, 161. 
Bears'  teeth,  as  ornaments,  406. 
Beaver.  276. 

Beck,  Prof.  Lewis  C.,  412. 
Beesleys  Pt.,  Cape  May  Co.,  N.  J.,  fish- 

spears  from,  271. 
Belt,  Thomas,  476. 

Belvidere,    New  Jersey,   site   of  arrow- 
maker's  workshop,  455. 
Berlin,  A.  F.,  415. 
Bird-shaped  stones,  369. 

'      Michigan.  370. 
'      modification  of,  375. 
'      New  Jersey,  372, 
'      supposed  use  of,  369. 
'      Vermont,  373. 
Boat-shaped  stones,  383. 
"          "        New  England,  383. 
"       Tennessee,  383. 

(553) 


554 


INDEX. 


Bolas,  Patagonian,  812. 
Bone  awls,  '212. 

fishhook,  208. 
implements,  205. 

"  California,  208. 

"  New  England,  205. 

"  Middle  states,  205. 

spoons,  Mass.,  206. 

Boston  Society  of  Natural  History,  510. 
Brereton.  John,  135,  414. 
Bnnton,  Dr.  Daniel  G.,  4,  443,  518. 
Brodhead,  Luke,  169,  415. 
Bushkill,   Pike  Co.,   Penna.,   stone   ring 
from,  404. 

Cabega  de  Vaca,  note  of,  concerning  nets 

ol  Indians,  238. 

California,  axe-like  implement  from,  31. 
"          barbed  arrowheads  from,  293. 
"          carved  pestles  from,  102. 
"          chert  daggers.  306. 
"          dasrger-like   flint    implements 

from,  203. 

"          flint  knives,  79. 
Indians,  75,  411. 
"          leaf-shaped  arrowheads  from, 

303. 
"          ornamented     smoking     pipes 

from,  304. 
"          small     mortar    or   paint    cup 

Irom,  167. 

"          soapstone  quarries  in,  180. 
"          stone     implements     of,     how 

used,  88. 

"          stone  tubes  from,  339. 
"          tuliular   smoking   pipes  from, 

330,  332. 

Cape  Henlopen,  shell-heaps  on,  439. 
"      May,  marine  erosion  at,  478. 
"          "     shell-heaps  on,  439. 
Carr,  L.,  392. 
Carved  plummet,  234. 
"       shells,  72. 

u       stone,  representing  fish,  386. 
"          "  "  cetacean,  387. 

Casse-tete,  211. 
Cayuga  Lake,  New  York,  stone  ornament 

from,  392. 
Celts,  classification  of,  35. 

"     hafted,  from  Lake  Luzerne,  N.  Y., 

37. 

"      hematite,  40. 

"     how  differing  from  chisels,  38. 
"     Iroqnois,  38. 
"      maximum,  size  of,  36. 
"     New  England,  42. 
"      occurrence  in  graves,  38. 
"•     shapes  of,  47. 

"     shortened  by  resharpening,  43. 
"      small,  46. 
"      square,  44. 

-'     universal  occurrence  of,  39. 
"     uses  of,  47. 
Ceremonial  objects,  fragments,  how  used, 

367. 
Ceremonial  objects,  grooved,  355. 

"  "        New  England,  350. 

"  "  "     Jersey, 351. 

»  "        Ohio,  354. 

"  "        ornamented,        from 

Cape   Cod,  Mass., 
365. 

"  "        oval,  357. 

"  "        perforations  of,  352. 

««  "       remarkable  form   of, 

from  New   Hamp- 
shire»  3CO. 


Ceremonial  objects,  supposed  meaning  of, 

349. 

"        Vermont.  350. 
Chesapeake  bay,  shell-heaps  on,  443. 
Chickies  Rock,  Penna.,  61,  252,  267,  284, 

295,  420,  428. 
Chisels,  not  celts,  48. 

"       Ohio,  50. 

"       small,  cylindrical,  50. 

"          "       quadrangular,  50. 

"          "       supposed  uses  of,  49. 

"          "      with  conical  heads,  49. 
Chungke  stones,  341,  427. 
Clay  pipes,  334. 
"    tubes,  339. 

Clement  collection,  in  Museum  at  Cam 
bridge,  42,  289. 
Clubheads,  stone.  309. 
Concord,  Mass.,  117. 

Cook,  Prof.  Geo.  IL,  445,  448,  449,  472,  474. 
Cope,  Prof.  E.  D.,  remarks  on  reindeer 

remains  found  in  drift  gravels,  in  New 

Jersey.  483. 

Copper  celts,  occurrence  of  in  many  lo 
calities,  415. 
Copper  gouge,          "  "    "     western 

New  York,  417. 
Copper  implements,  411. 

"  k-  in       common       use 

among  New  England  tribes,  414. 
Copper  spearpoints  in  common  use,  among 

New  England  tribes,  419. 
"       native,  occurrence  of  in  N.  J.,  412. 
"       plummet,  233. 
Connecticut    river,   Valley    of,     ancient 

wootlen  maul  from,  61. 
Connecticut  river,  valley  of,  arrowheads 

from,  280,  286,  292.  297,  303. 
Connecticut  river,  valley  of,  chipped  stone 

knives  from,  80,  87. 
Connecticut  river,  valley  of,  stone  awls 

from,  115. 
Connecticut  river,  valley  of,  stone  drills 

from,  111. 
Connecticut  river, valley  of,  stone  scrapers 

from,  121,  129. 
Connecticut  river,  valley  of,  spearpoints 

from,2()4,  267,  270,  27:>. 
Crosswicks  Creek,  New  Jersey,  64,   231, 

238.  242,  305, 440. 
Crouch's  Cove,  Maine,  bone  implements 

from,  211.  211. 
Cumberland  Sound,  Eskimos  of,  64. 

"  Valley,  Tenn.,  74. 

Cunningham's  Island,  Lake  Erie,  bird- 
shaped  stone  from,  369. 
Cyprus,  terra  cottas  from,  407. 

Daggers,  flint,  305. 

knives  used  as,  83. 
Dall,  W.  II.,  146,  214,  215,  438. 
Danvers,  Mass.,  slate  knife  from,  68. 
Davis,  Dr.  E.  H..31. 
Dawkins,  Prof.  W.B.,  514. 
De  Costa,  Rev.  B.  F.,  366. 
Delaware  Indians,  12,  139,  149,  155,  177, 

185,  208,  243,  248,  279, 285,  310,  316,  323, 

384,  430. 
Delaware  river,  15, 19,  384,  472. 

'*         tri-notched    arrowheads    from, 

294. 
Delaware  Water  Gap,  56,  72,  92,  169,  172, 

178,  241,  254,  406,  473. 
Delaware,  sculptured  pipe  from,  385. 
Demerara,  notched  axes  from,  29. 
Denmark,  Lewis  Co.,  New  York,  deposit 

of  flint  knives  from,  84. 


INDEX. 


555 


Denmark,  flint  scrapers  from,  121. 
Dighton  Rock.  310. 

Discoidal  stones,  Southern  States,  341. 
"  •'         unusual     in    Northern 

States,  341. 

"  "        used  by  Delaware  In 

dians,  342. 

"  "        used  by  Shawnee  Indi 

ans,  343. 
Dos   Pueblos,    California,   stone   pestles 

from,  162. 
Drills,  stone,  bird-shaped,  119. 

«•       Connecticut  Valley,  111,  113. 
"         "       knife-like  based,  101. 
"          '•       maximum  size  of,  107. 
"          "       New  York,  111. 
"         "       notched  based.  105. 
"         "       polished,  116. 
"         u  "         Concord,      Mass., 

117. 

"          "  "          barbed,  118. 

"          «'  "          New  Jersey,  119. 

"          "  "  "    York,  119. 

"          "  "          Ohio,  119. 

"          "  "          Pennsylvania,  119. 

"          "  u          Wisconsin,  119. 

Du  Pratz,  M.  Le  Page,  32G. 

Easton,  Penna.,  spearpoints  from,  251. 

Ebauchoir.  209 

Ellsworth,  E.  W..  61. 

England,  flint  scrapers  from,  121. 

Engraved  gorget,  384. 

Eskimo,  Cumberland  Sound,  64. 

'•         ornaments,  408. 

"        stone  scrapers,  126. 

"  ''     spearpoints,  268. 

Eskimos,  traces  of,  in  New  England,  2. 
Essex  Co.,  Mass.,  plummets  from,  268. 
Europe,  flint  slingstones  from,  134. 

perforated  stone  hammers  in,  60. 
European  origin,  objects  of,  1,  401,  418, 420. 
Evans,  John,  69,  136,  139,  255,291,  294,  301. 
Evans,  Dr.  John  C.,  31. 

Fish-spears,  argillite,  273. 

"  "         how  different  from 

flint,  278. 
"  "         in  alluvial  deposits, 

274. 

'•  flint,  Connecticut  valley,  273. 

"  "        Massachusetts.  269. 

"  "        Susquehanna  rivr,  272. 

Flintchips,  occurrence  of,  on  "workshop" 

sites,  453. 
"     daggers,  305. 

"•         Arkansas,  119. 

"         Denmark,  305. 

"         Tennessee,  119, 

implements,  chipped,  195, 

"  "         deposits  of, 

199. 

"  «'          Mass..  202. 

"  u         OnondagaCo., 

N.  Y.,  204. 
"  "  "         supposed  uses 

of,  195,  200. 

Florida,  fresh- water  shellheaps  of,  215, 439. 
Fort  Bridger.  Wyoming  Terr.,  137. 
Fossil  shark  teeth.  405. 
Foster,  J.  W.,  280,  383. 
France,  flint  scrapers  from,  121. 
Frey,  S.  L.,  204,  205,  213,  407. 

Garcilasso  de  la  Vega,  reference  of,  to 
fish,  ne-ts  of  Indians,  239. 


Georgia,  arrowheads,  281. 
"        grooved  axes,  11. 
steatite  pipes,  326. 
Gillman,  Henry.  370. 
Gloucester  Co.,  New  Jersey,  arrowheads, 

302. 

"  "        "  "      axes,  18. 

"  "        "•  "      axe-like  im 

plement,  29. 
"  "        "  "       discoidal 

stones,  341. 
*'  "        "  "       grooved 

hammers,  57. 
"  "        "  "       perforated 

sinkers,  245. 
"  "       '•  "       spearpoints, 

260. 
Gorgets,  377. 

'•        copper,  380. 
"        fragments  of.  utilized,  381. 
"        New  England,  382. 
"  "    Jersey,  378. 

"        Ohio,  378. 
"        ornamented,  379. 
Gouges,  50. 

"       Champlain  valley,  52. 
"      New  Jersey,  55. 

"      York,' 54. 

''      Museum  at  Cambridge,  Mass.,  54. 
Greenwell,  llev.  William,  140. 
Grooved  hammers,  57. 

"  "  Kansas,  58. 

"  peculiar  forms  of,  59. 

"  '*  used  as  weapons,  59. 

"        hoes,  222. 

Hackensack     river,     New    Jersey,    flint 

knives  from,  81. 

Haidah  Indians,  bone  implements  of,  207. 
Haldeman.  S.  S.,  29,  60,  83.  115,  137,   143, 

209,  251,  252.  253,  260,  263,  264,  267,  268, 

280,  284,  288,  290,  292,  295,  298,  299,  302, 

337.  342.  397,  428. 
Hartford,   Washington  Co.,  N.  Y.,  slate 

knife  from,  66. 

Haynes,  Prof.  Henry  W.,  510. 
He'cke welder,  Rev.  John,  74,  384. 
Henderson,  J.  G.,  230,  234. 
Hingham,  Mass..  clay  pot  from,  173. 
Hoes  made  of  elk-horn,  218. 
Hoe-blades,  objects  supposed  to  be,  220. 
Holm,   T.   Campanula.   139,  149,  206,  243, 

267,  279.  316,  335,  406. 
Hudson,  Hendrick,  407. 
Hudson  river,  Valley  of,  arrowheads 

from,  292. 
Human  face,  carved  in  stone,  from  Alaska, 

394. 
Human  face,  carved  in  stone,  from  New 

Jersey,  392. 
Human  face,  carved  in  stone,  from  New 

York,  392. 
Hunterdon    Co.,   New   Jersey,    hematite 

celts  from,  46. 
Hunterdon    Co.,    New   Jersey,    hematite 

implements,  390. 
Hupa  Indians,  white  deer  dance  of,  307, 

411. 

Illinois,  boat-shaped  stone  from.  383. 

"         deposits  of  flint  implements  in, 
199. 

"         flint  spades  and  shovels  from,  197. 

"         fragments  of  pottery  from,  182. 

'"         plummet  from,  233. 
Indian  pictographs,  345. 


556 


INDEX. 


Indiana,  arrowheads  from,  288,  298,  303. 

"         celts  from.  45. 

"         narrow  celts  or  chisels  from,  50. 

"         scrapers  from,  129. 

'•         stone  awls  or  perforators  from, 
114. 

"        twisted  spearpoint  from,  2C5. 
Ingersoll,  Ernest,  441. 
Inscribed  stones,  345. 
Ireland,  flint  scrapers  from,  121. 
Iroquois,  bone  hoes  of,  218. 

•'          celts,  how  used  by,  38. 

"          clay  ornaments  made  by,  172. 

"          pipes  of.  320,  338. 

"          pottery,  173. 

"          stone  clubs  among,  161. 

"          totems  of,  383. 

"          war-clubs  of,  200,  310. 
Isle  of  Wight  Co.,  Virginia,  steatite  pipe 

from,  320. 

Jones,  Col.  C.  C.,  jr..  25,  73,  129,  144,  154, 
155,  192,  208,  225,  230,  245,  250,  281,  305, 
309. 

Josselyn,  John,  258. 

Kalm,  Peter,  94.  147,  155,  176,  185,  208,  237, 
279,  316,  335.  346,  413,  438,  441. 

Kansas,  grooved  stone  hammers  from,  58. 

Kentucky,  spearpoints  fi  om,  262. 

Kingston,  New  Hampshire,  slate  knife 
from,  70. 

Kiowa  Indians.  393. 

Kumlein,  Ludwig,  64,  408. 

Lake  Champlain,  Valley  of,  arrowheads 

from,  281. 

Lake  Champlain,  Valley  of,  axes  in,  10. 
"  '•  "       "  ceremonial 

objects,  350. 
u  "  "        "  chipped     flint 

knives,  86. 
"  "  "        "  gorgets    from, 

382. 

"  "  "        ''  stone    gouges 

found  in,  52. 

Lake    Hopatcong,  New   Jersey,  ground 

arrowhead  from,  92. 

Lake  Hopatcong,  New  Jersey,  large  ar 
rowhead  from,  291. 
Lake  Hopatcong.  New  Jersey,  perforated 

sinker  Irom,  245. 
Lake   Luzerne,    New    York,    hafted  celt 

from,  37. 

Lake  Superior,  Indians  of,  421, 
"     Winnipiseogee.N.  II.,  360. 
Lambertville,  New  Jersey,  large  grooved 

axe  from,  13. 
Lancaster  Co.,  Penna.,  clay  pipe  from, 

337. 

Leidy,  Prof.  Jos.,  137,  439. 
Lenni-Lenape,  12,  72,  270,  343. 
Lewis  and  Clarke,  310. 
"      Elias.jr,  415,  439. 
"      Henry  Carvill,  472. 
Lewes,  Delaware,  sculptured  pipe  from, 

322. 
Liberty  Co.,  Georgia,  quartz  mortar  from, 

155. 

Lockwood,  Rev.  S.,  376,  380. 
Loskiel,  12,  149.  166,  218,  268,  325. 
Lubbock,  Sir  John,  40,  45,  305,  402. 
Luxembourg,  Congres  des  Americanistes, 
115,  428. 

Macehuatl  of  Pacific  Islanders,  84. 
MacLeau,  J.  P.,  355. 


Maine,  copper  celts  from,  414. 
"        plummets  from,  233. 
"        shell- heaps  of,  4:>9. 
"        spearpoints  from.  256.  259. 
"        steatite  food-vessels  from,  185. 
Maize.  149. 

Maryland,  shell-heaps  of,  444. 
'•  slate  knives  from,  63. 

spearpoints  from,  256,  259. 
*'  f-teatite  food-vessels  from,  185. 

Massachusetts,  abundance  of  copper  a- 

mong  Indians  of.  414. 
abundance    of    stone 

gouges  in,  50. 
"  bone    implements   from, 

211. 

''  bone  spoon  from  ancient 

Indian   graves  in,  206. 

"  carved  stone  pestle  from, 

160. 

carved    stone  represent 
ing  fish,  from,  385. 
"  ceremonial  carved  stones 

from,  352,  359,  366. 
"  chipped  flint  knives  from, 

85. 

clay  pot  from,  173. 
copper  celts  from,  415. 
"  flint  drills  and  awls  from, 

111.  114. 
"  fresh-water    shell-heaps, 

in,  440. 

grooved  axes  from,  11. 
'«  "  "     not    found 

in  Indian  graves,  in,  11. 
Indians,  method  of  pro 
curing  lire  of.  135. 
large      chipped     imple 
ments  from,  202. 
"  northwest      coast     pipe 

from.  323. 
"  occurrence  of  plummets 

in, 227. 
ornament  of  deer's  bone 

from ,  399. 

polished  drill  from,  117. 
"  pottery  from    shell -heap 

in,  181. 
"  shell-heaps    on  coast  of, 

124,  440,  448. 

"  slate  knives  from.  68. 

steatite  pipe  from,  318. 

"        vessel  from,  185. 
stone  pendants  from  In 
dian  graves  in, 389. 
"  supposed         fish-spears 

Irom,  268. 
"  tubular     smoking     pipe 

from.  330. 
Maul,  wooden,  from  Connecticut  valley, 

61. 
Mercer  Co.,  New  Jersey,  ancient   Indian 

village  site  in,  143. 

Mercer  Co.,  New  Jersey,  arrowheads,  297. 
Mica,  occurrence  of  in  Indian  graves,  175. 
Michigan,  bird-shaped  stones.  370. 

"          occurrence  of  Jiusycon  shells 

in,  325. 

Mink  (Putorius  vison),  276. 
Mississippi  river,  13,  190,  349. 
Missouri,  pottery  from  mounds  of,  172, 

177. 

"          sharpening  stones  from,  435. 
Mohawk  valley,  New  York,  bone  imple 
ments  from,  205. 

Mohawk  valley,  New  York,  contents  of 
ancient  Indian  graves  in,  337. 


INDEX. 


557 


Mohawk  valley.  New  York,  small  arrow 
heads  from,  2i)0. 

Mohawk  valley,  New  York,  worked  bea 
ver's  tooth  from,  213. 
Monk-fish,  bones  of,  in  shell-heaps,  124. 
Mon  mouth  Co.,  New  Jersey,  gorget  from, 

380. 

"        "         "         stone    orna 
ment  from,  376,  392. 
Morgan,  Lewis  H.,  38,  200,  300. 
Mortars,  deep,  used  with  pestles,  155. 

portable,  152. 

"         shallow,  to  be  used  with  crush 
ers,  153. 
Mortars,  stationary.  151. 

"         wooden,  156. 
Mortillet,  remarks  by,  on  Delaware  river 

palaeolithic  implements.  4110. 
Mound-builders,  relationship  of,  to  Indi 
ans,  2. 
Mound-builders,   grooved  stone  axes  of, 

16. 

Mullers,  104. 
Muskrat,  276. 
Musters,  Geo.  C  ,  312. 
Net-sinkers,  Delaware  river  valley.  238. 
large,  used  as  anchors,  243. 
"  notched  pebbles  used  as,  237. 

perforated,  243. 
Susquehanna    river    valley, 
240. 

New  England,  agricultural  tools  in,  218. 
"        arrowheads  in.  281,  298,  302. 
"        bone  awls  in,  98. 
"  "        ceremonial     objects  from, 

350,  356. 

"        chipped    flint   knives,   80. 
"  "        copper  objects  among  In 

dians  of,  419. 
"        flint  drills  in,  99. 
"  '•    scrapers    in,    123,  129, 

131,  133. 
"        grooved  hammers  in,  57. 

'•        stone  axes  in,  11, 
19,  27,  30. 
"        Indians,  364. 
"        nets  of  Indians  of,  239. 
"  "       northwest      coast      pipes 

from.  323. 
"  "        ornamented     clay     pipes 

from.  338. 

"        paint  cups  in,  168. 
"        pendants  from,  3<J3,  395. 
"        pestles  in,  155, 163.  235. 
"        pitted  stones  in,  192. 
"        plummet!  in,  227,  240. 
"        polished  celts  in,  41,  44. 

stone  drill   from, 

117. 

"        pottery  of,  171,  182. 
"  "        scrapers  used  as  "  strike- 

a-light"in.  135. 

"        eemilunar  slate  knives,  63. 
'•        sinew  dressers  in,  146. 
"        shell  heaps  in,  180,  440.  448. 
"        slender  spearpoints  or  fish- 
spears  from.  272. 
"        slickstones  in,  144. 
"        smoking  pipes  in,  317. 
"        spearpoints    in,    252,    260. 

266. 
"  "        steatite  food-vessels  from, 

188. 

stone  gouges  in.  51. 
"      ornaments     of  Indi 
ans  of,  400,  406. 


New  Hampshire,  animal  carvingfrom.  387. 
boat-shaped  stone  from, 

382. 
carved  ceremonial  stone 

from,  360,  365. 
"          northwest     coast     pipe 

from.  3-26. 

slate  knife  from,  70. 

•'    Jersey,  agricultural  implements,  217. 
"          "        arrowheads,  278. 
"          "        awls,  112. 

bird-shaped  stones,  369. 
bone  fish-hooks.  208. 

'•     implements,  205. 
celts.  34. 

ceremonial  objects.  350. 
chipped  flint  implements,  195. 
"         "  "  sup 

posed  uses  ot  smaller,  201. 
chipped  flint  knives,  75. 

"          ••     howhaft- 
ed.  79. 

"         "     supposed 
uses  of.  81. 

New  Jersey,         "         «         «     spear- 
shaped,  89. 
New  Jersey.         «         «          «     with 

stemmed  bases,  86. 
'    Jersey,  chisels,  48. 

"        clay  pipes,  334. 
"    tubes,  340. 
copper  implements,  311. 
deposits  of  axes,  33. 
"        discoidal  stones,  341. 
"        drills,  97. 

"     uses  of,  109. 
fish-spears,  266. 

.nite.ro.  anliql"ty  °f  •"" 

Jersey,  flint  chips,  453. 

"    daggers,  305. 
gorgets,  377. 
"       gouges.  50. 

grooved  hammers,  57. 

stone  axes,  11,19,24. 
"     elob-heads. 

309. 

hand-hammers,  423. 
"       hematite  celts,  46. 
"       Indians  of.  73. 

"       trails  in.  16. 
in  scribed  axes,  32. 

"          stones,  345. 
mortars,  149. 

in  glacial  bowlders, 

150. 

"        mullers,  165. 
"        native  copper,  312. 
net-sinkers,  237. 
obliquely  grooved  axes,  26. 
"       occurrence  of  Catlinite  pipes 

in,  317. 

paint  cups.  166. 
"'        pendants.  388. 

perforated  sinkers,  243. 
"       pestles,  156. 
pipes, 315. 
pitted  stones,  192. 
plummets.  231. 
pointed  axe-like  implement, 

polished  drills.  116. 

"        blate  knives,  spear- 
shaped,  92. 
pottery,  170. 
rubbing  stones,  429. 
scrapers,  121. 


558 


INDEX. 


New  Jersey  scrapers,  uses  of,  123. 

"         "  "  "     '•  as  strike-a 

light,  135. 

"          "        sharpening  stones.  433. 

"          •'        shell-heaps,  inland,  440. 

"          "  '•  marine,  437,  445, 

448. 

"          "        sinew-dressers,  145. 

"          "        slate  knives,  63. 

k<         ''  "  •'      with    ornamen 

tation,  70. 

"          "        slickstones,  139. 

l<         "        spade-shaped       slickstones, 
223. 

"          "        spearpoints,  248. 

"         "  slate,  2(50. 

"         "  "  twisted  or  rifled, 

205. 

"         "        steatite  food  vessels,  186. 

'•          "        stone  mask,  393. 

"          •'        teshoas,  138. 

'•          "        totems,  384. 

"          "        trinkets,  395. 

"          "        tubular  smoking  pipes,  332. 

"    Mexico,  polished  grooved  axes,  20. 

"    York,  arrowheads,  288,  290. 

"         "     axes,  11. 

"         "     bird-shaped  stones,  309. 

"         "      bone  fish-hook,  209. 

"         "        "      implements,  205. 

"         "     carved  pestle  from,  161. 

"         "     celts,  42. 

"         "      ceremonial  objects,  350. 

chipped  flint  implements,  204. 

"      knives,  82. 
•<         "  "        deposit 

of,  84. 

clay  pipes,  339. 
copper  implements,  414. 

"         "      fish  spears.  273. 

"         »     flint  drills.  111. 

"         "      gouges,  50. 

"         *'     grooved  stone  club-heads,  310. 

"         "     ha  t'ted  celt  from  Lake  Luzerne, 

37. 
"     pipes,  317,  331,  337. 

"         "      polished  barbed  drills,  121. 

«'         "      scrapers,  131. 

"         "      shell-heaps,  inland,  441. 

"         •'  "  marine,  439. 

"         "     slate  knives.  66. 

»'         «•         "         •'        spear-shaped,  92. 

«         "      slickstones,  143. 

"         "      speavpoints.  249,  263. 

"         "      stone  trinkets,  396,  406. 

"         «'      worked  beaver's  tooth,  213. 
Nilsson,  Sven,  40,  140,  209,  214,  218,  309. 

Ohio,  arrowheads,  288,  290. 

"  bird-Shaped  stones,  374. 

"  bone  awls,  98. 

"  celts.  45. 

«'  ceremonial  objects,  349,354- 

"  chisels,  50. 

"  clay  tubes,  339. 

"  copper  gorgets,  380. 
"  ••       plum  met  from,  233. 

"  flint  drills,  98,  114. 

"  "     knives,  83. 

"  gorgets,  378. 

«'  hematite  plummets,  231. 

"  human  IJKM-  carved  ill  stone,  391. 

"  mullers,  164. 

"  pipes,  328. 

"  pitted  stones.  192. 

"  plummets.  230, 

"  polished  drill-like  implements,  119. 


Ohio,  scrapers,  129. 

spears,  259,  270. 
"      stone  masks,  393. 

twisted  spears,  266. 
"      triangular  arrowheads,  298. 
Onondaga   Co.,  New   York,    implements 

from.  161,204. 

Otter  (Lutra  canudensis) ,  276. 
Owego,  New  York,  inland  shell-heaps  at, 

441. 

Oysters,  shells  of,  in  marine  shell-heaps, 
438, 443. 

Pacific  coast,  bone  fish-hooks  from,  208. 

"  "      pestles  from,  162. 

Paint  cups,  165. 
Palaeolithic  implements,  265,  471. 

"  "  abundance        of, 

489. 

character  of,  485. 
how         differing 
from  "Indian  "  implements,  511. 
Palaeolithic  implements,   position    of,  in 

situ,  491,  496,  500,  502.  504,  506. 
Palaeolithic  man   of  America,   supposed 

relationship  of,  to  Eskimo,  514,  517. 
Palmer,  Dr.  Edward,  228. 
Paring  knife  from  Amoskeag  falls,  N.  H., 

66. 
Passaic  river,   N.  J.,    oval    flint   knives 

from,  81. 

Peabody  Museum  of  American  Archae 
ology,  at  Cambridge.  Mass..  11.  20,  26, 
32,  42,  54,  58,  63,  66,  70,  111,  117, 119,  131, 
151,  160,  161,  172,  185,  186,  207,  229,  241, 
275  293,  302,  306,  323,  327,  328,  339,  350, 


351 
474 

Pern  be 
fro 


366,  373,  381,  383,  389,  392,  394,  471, 

510. 

ton,  New   Jersey,  inscribed  axe 

i,  32. 


Penda   ts,  389. 

"          ornamented,  3PO. 
Penns  Ivania,  arrowheads,  290. 

axes,  with  narrow  edge,  30. 
brass  arrowheads,  420. 
carved     arrowhead   from, 

397. 

copper  celts,  414. 
discoidal  stone  from,  342. 
ebauchoir,  210. 
fish  gigs,  260. 

fck     spears,  267. 
gouges,  54. 
hand  hammers,  428. 
Indians,  16. 
net  sinkers,  241. 
obliquely  grooved  axes,  26. 
perforated    stone  hammer 

from,  61. 
polished   stone  drills,  118, 

119. 

slickstones,  143. 
spearpoints,  251. 
stone  ring.  493. 
Perforated  net-sinkers,  143. 
Perkins,  Prof.  Geo.  H.,  10,  86,  91,  160,  161, 

162,  171,  281,  282,  331,  350,  351,  382. 
Peruvian  stone  knife,  90. 
Pestles,  155. 

"         carved, 159. 
"         collared,  162. 
Pipes,  315. 

calumet,  317. 
"        clay,  334. 

"        materials  of  which  made,  316. 
"       Northwest    coast,    from    Atlantic 
States,  324. 


INDEX. 


559 


Pipes,  sculptured, 323. 

"        so-called    "compound    calumet," 

333. 
"       tubular,  380. 

California,  330. 
"        various  forms  of,  317. 
Pitted  stones,  191. 

"  "      occurrence  of,  in  Southern 

States,  192. 

Plummets,  abundance  of  in   New  Eng 
land.  227. 

"  supposed  uses  of,  228. 

Poggamoggon,  310. 
Pot-holes  in  rocks,  as  mortars,  151. 
Potsdam  sandstone,  mortar  of  bowlder, 

of,  151. 

Potter.  Dr.  W.  B.,  435. 
Pottery,  1(59. 

"         cord  marked,  184. 
"         ho\y  ornamented,  177. 
"         incised,  179. 
"         in  shell-heaps,  170. 
"         Missouri  or  black  pottery,  occur 
rence  of,  on  Atlantic  seaboard, 
177. 

"         punctured,  180. 
"         thumb-nail  markings  on,  184. 
Pueblo  axes,  20. 

Putnam.  Prof.  F.  W.,  21.  65,  124.  175,  185, 
18(J,  227,  231,  241,  323,  33(J,  350,  3G4,  3»5, 
415,  510. 

Quahaug,  see  shell-heaps. 

Rasles.  Father,  211. 

Ran,  Dr.  Chas.,  61,  170,  193,  197,  217,  222, 

2-10.  327,  414,  439,  445,  448,  453. 
Read,  Prof.  M.  C.,  fil. 
Reindeer,  bones  of,  in  Trenton  gravels, 

483. 
Rose  collection  of  Danish  implements,  in 

Museum  at  Cambridge,  Mass.,  306. 

Sabonic  Neck,  Long  Island,  N.  Y.,  shell- 
heaps  at,  420. 
Salem  Co.,  New  Jersey,  spearpoints  from, 

251.  255. 

"  Mass.,  stone  implements  from,  121. 
Scandinavia,  axe-like  implement  from,  40. 
Schoolcraft,  H.  R.,  65,  157,  162,  248,  310, 

325,  338,  345,  346,  36!),  377. 
Schumacher,  Paul,  30,  88,  186. 
Scrapers,  121. 

"         flakes  used  as,  124. 
"         notched,  136. 
polished,  131. 
"          stemmed,  130. 
"         used  as  "'  strike-a-lights,"  135. 
Shawnee  Indians,  74,  371. 
Shells,  as  knives,  94. 
Shell-heaps,  124, 170,  171,  180,  437. 
"  Aleutian  Islands.  438. 

"  Anodonta  purpurea.  shells  of, 

forming  inland.  440. 
««  antiquity    of  New    England, 

448. 

'«  antiquity  of  New  Jersey,  449. 

"  Atlantic  coast,  438,   440,  444, 

449. 

"  inland  or  fresh-water,  441. 

"  Ostrea     borealis,    shells     of, 

forming,  445. 
"  Ostrea    virginica,    shells    of, 

forming,  443,  444. 

"  Pyrula  canaliculata,  shells  of, 

forming,  445. 


Shell-heaps,  Unio  complanatus,  shells  of, 

forming  inland,  440. 
"  Unio  riridis,  shells  of,  form 

ing  inland,  440. 
Venus  mercenaria,  shells  of, 
forming,  445. 
Sinew-dressers,  145. 
Slickstones,  139. 

Snapper  (Chelydra  serpentina).  260. 
Snyder,  Dr.  J.  F.,  199. 
Spearpoints,  247. 

argillite,  260. 

antiquity  of,  260. 
as  "  fish-gigs."  260. 
maximum  size  of,  250. 
probable  use  of,  258. 
twisted  or  "  rifled,"  265. 
Spindle-socket  stones,  192. 
Squier,  E.  G.,  233,415. 
Squier  and  Davis,  Messrs.,  17,  66,  307,  339, 

369,  378. 
St.  Catalina  Island,  Cal.,  steatite  quarry 

on,  186. 
Steatite  food  vessels,  185. 

"         "          '«         how  manufactured, 

186,  188. 

"      quarry  in  New  England,  Ib8. 
Stevens,  E.  T.\  l.iO,  329. 
Stirling.  Dr.  E.,  370. 
Stubbs,  Dr.  Chas.  H.,  351. 
Susquehanna  river.  Pa.,  valley  of,  arrow 
heads  from,  288,  292. 
Susqnehanna  river,  Pa.,       "       "    axes, 

26,  27. 
Susquehanna      "        "          "       "  copper 

implements,  414. 
Susqnehanna  river,    "  "       "    drills, 

J15. 
Susquehanna      "        "  "       "    fish- 

i- pears,  273. 
Susquehanna  river,    "  "       "    flint 

knives.  83. 
Susqnehanna     "        "          "       "    hand 

hammers,  426. 

Susquehanna  river,    "          "       "    net- 
sinkers,  240. 

Susquehanna  river,    "          "       "    pol 
ished  stone  drills,  118. 
Swanton,  Vermont,  implements  from  an 
cient  graves  near,  374. 
Swiss  lakes,  celts  from,  42. 
Switzerland,  flint  scrapers  from,  121. 
Syria,  stone  implements  from,  45. 


Tapley,  D.  J.,  360. 
Tazoiis  Indians,  325. 
Tennessee,  clay  pipes,  327. 
u  flint  daggers,  203. 

"          polished  scraper  from,  131. 
"          shell  disk  from,  73. 
Teshoas,  138. 

"         Wyoming  Territory,  138. 
"         New  Jersey,  138. 
Titusville,  New  Jersey,  carved  stone  from, 

384. 

Tooker,  W.  W.,  209,  439. 
Totems,  72.  383. 
Trenton  gravels,  antiquity  of,  472. 

•'  "        mammalian         remains 

found  in,  483. 

"  '«  origin  of,  522. 

Trenton,  New   Jersey,  an  Indian  village 

site,  372. 

"  "  «'         clay  pot  from,  174. 

«  "          "        deposit    of    axes 

found  at,  33. 


5  6o 


INDEX. 


Trenton,  New  Jersey,  mortar  in  bowlder, 

at,  151. 

"        pipe  from,  326. 
Trinkets,  404. 
Tuckerton,  New  Jersey,  shell-heaps  near, 

447. 
spearpoints,  271. 

Uh  '-ga-o-gwat-ha.  38. 
Unalaohtgo,  see  Delaware  Indians. 
Unamis,  see  Delaware  Indians. 
TJ.  S.  National  Museum,  64. 
U.  S.  Survey,  West  100th  Merid.,  20,  79,  84, 
88,  293,  300,  306,  405. 

Vanuxem,  Lardner,  443. 

Venus  mercenaria,  see  shell-heaps. 

Vermont,  arrowheads,  280. 

"         bird-shaped  stone  from,  375. 

"          clay  pots  from,  175,  176,  181. 

"          pestles  from,  162. 


Walrus,  bones  of.  in  drift  gravels,  483. 

Warren;Co.,  New  Jersey,  hematite  imple 
ments,  46. 

Welltteet,  Cape  Cod,  Mass.,  carved  stone 
representing  human  face,  from,  366. 

Whitney,  Prof.  J.  D.,  3.  421. 

Whittlesey,  Col.  Chas..  370. 

Williams.  Roger,  239,  325. 

Wilson.  Dr.  Daniel,  81. 

Wisconsin,  copper  implements,  419. 

"          polished  drill-like  implements, 

119. 
"  pottery,  181. 

Wittmer  disk,  see  Discoidal  stones. 

Woolley,  Chas.  K.,  447. 

Wyman,  Prof.  Jeffries,  171,  173,  205,  211, 
215,  439,  440,  444,  448,  463. 

Yardville,  New  Jersey,  an  Indian  village 
site,  151. 


A    NEW    'WORK. 

The  Marine  Algse  of  New  England. 

By   DR.  W.  G.  FAKLOW. 

Fifteen  (15)  full-page  plates.  Gives  mode  of  collecting  and  preserv 
ing,  structure  and  classification,  description  of  new  species,  etc.  Price 
in  cloth  $1.50.  Sent  postpaid  on  receipt  of  price  by 

GEO.  A.  BATES,  SALEM,  MASS. 

Nests  and  Eggs  of  American  Birds. 

By  ERNEST  INGERSOLL. 

Issued  in  parts.     Each  part  contains  two  (2)  finely  colored  plaieskof 
[t  gives  all  particulars  necessary  for  the  identification  of  birds' 
eggs.     Price  per  part  50  cents.     Send  for  circulars  to  the  publisher, 

GEO.  A.  BATES,  SALEM,  MASS. 

Life  on  the  Seashore ;  or  Animals  of 

of  our  Coasts  and  Bays. 

By  JAMES  H.  EMERTON. 

Gives  full  particulars  of  the  marine  life  found  on  our  coast,  illustrat 
ing  every  form  by  fine  wood  cuts.     Endorsed  by  all  scientific  men. 
Price,  cloth,  $1.50.     Sent  postpaid  by  the  publisher, 

GEO.  A.  BATES,  SALEM,  MASS. 


Descriptive  Anatomy  of  the  Domestic 

Cat. 

By  PROF.  HENRY  S.  WILLIAMS,  of  Cornell  University. 

The  work  consists  of  13  plates,  12  x  1C,  made  from  plates  of  Hercule 
Straus-Durckheim's  "Anatomic  Descriptive  et  Comparative  du  Chat." 
Price,  text  and  plates,  $4.00.     Sent  postpaid  by 

GEO.  A.  BATES,  SALEM,  MASS. 


,4yyi\ 

For  Sale  at  the  Naturalists'  Bureau, 

G-iEOiR-a-iE  j±_  IB^TIES, 


PUTNAM,  F.  W.— ARCHAEOLOGICAL  EXPLORATIONS  IN  TENNESSEE.    Many  fine 

cuts.      .       •    .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  $    f>0 

DESCRIPTION  OF  STONE  KNIVES  FOUND  IN  ESSEX  COUNTY, 

Mass.          .  .  ...  15 

THE  MANUFACTURING  OF  SOAPSTONK  POTS  BY  THE  INDIANS 

of  New  England.      .......       10 

ANCIENT  FORTIFICATION  ON  THE  WABASH  HIVER.  .  10 

ARCHAEOLOGICAL  NOTES  o.v  MOUNDS  AT  MEROM  AND  Hur- 
sonville  on  the  Wabash.     ......       10 

DESCRIPTION  OF  A  STONE  KNIFE  FOUND  AT  KINGSTON,  N.  II.       05 
A  SHORT  OUTLINE  OF  THE  LIFE  AND  LABORS  OF  DR.  JEFF 
RIES  WVMAN,  with  a  list  of  his  Contributions.      .  .  15 
DESCRIPTION  OF  A  CARVED  STONE  REPRESENTING  A  CETA- 

cean,  found  at  Sea  brook,  N.  II.  .  .  .  .        lo 

ANCIENT  INDIAN  CARVING,  AT  IPSWICH,  MASS.      .  .  10 

REYNOLDS,  ELMER   R.— ABORIGINAL    SOAPSTONE    QUARRIES    IN    THE    Dis 
trict  of  Columbia.     .......        15 

SCHUMACHER,  PAUL  —THE    METHODS   OF  MANUFACTURING   POTTERY  AND 

Baskets  among  the  Indiana  of  Southern  California.       .  10 

The  Methods  of  Manufacture  of  Several  Articles  by  the  for 
mer  Indians  ol  Southein  California.       .  .  .  .25 

MORGAN,  LEWIS  H  —Ox  THE   RUINS  OK  A  STONE   PUEBLO  ON  HIE  ANIMAS 

in  New  Mexico,  with  a  Ground  Plan.  ...  20 

BLAKE,  JOHN  H.— NOTES  ON  A  COLLECTION  FROM  THE  ANCIENT  CE.METI  RY 

at  the  Bay  of  Chucota,  Peru.        .  .  .  .  .25 

PALMER,  DR.  EDWARD.— CAVE  DWELLINGS  IN  UTAH.  .  10 

BANDELIER,  AD.  F.— ON  THE  ART  OF   WAR  AND   MODE   OK    WARFARE   OF 

the  Ancient  Mexicans.        ......        40 

ON  THE   DISTRIBUTION  AND  TKNURK   OF   LANDS.  AND  THE 
Customs  with  respect  to  Inheritance  among-  the  Ancient 
Mexicans.  ....  .40 

ON  THE  SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION  AND  MODE  OF  GOVERNMENT 

of  the  Ancient  Mexicans  .  .  .  .  .1  <i() 

Another  paper  is  promised  on  this  subject  by  the  same  author,  and  when  complete 
and  added  to  the  above,  the  whole  will  form  a  classical  contribution  to  the  History  of 
Ancient  Mexico.     The  author  has  devoted  a  vast  amount  ol  study  to  the  subject,  and 
gives  copious  notes  from  all  the  known  authorities.    Only  a  lew  copies.     Order  early. 
CARR,  LUCIEN.— OBSERVATIONS  ON  THE  CRANIA  FROM  THE  STONK  GRAVES 

in  Tennessee.  ....  .  .        25 

REPORT  ON  IHE  EXPLORATION  OF  A  MOUND  IN  LEE  COUNTY 

Virginia.     .  ......  25 

ABBOTT.  C.  C.,  M.  I).— SECOND    REPORT  ON  THE    PALEOIITHIC    IMPLEMENTS 
from  the  Glacial  Drift  in  the  Valley  of  the  Delaware  River, 
near  Trenton.  N.  ,J.  .  . "  .  .  .26 

ANDRF^WS,  E.  B.— REPORTS  ON  THE  EXPLORATION  OF  A  CAVE  AND  OF  MOUNDS 

in  Ohio.       ....  ...  25 

WYMAN,  JEFFRIES. -FRESH-WATER  SHELL  MOUNDS  OF  ST.  JOHNS'S  RIVER. 

Florida.     Large  8vo,  94  pp  and  9  plates..          .  .  .200 

MORSE.— SHELL  MOUNDS  OF  OMORL     Vol.  I.     Part  1.    MEMOIRS  OF  THE   UNI- 

versity  of  thcTokio,  Japan.    .....         250 

This  valuable  and  interesting-  contribution  to  the  science  of  archaeology  is  now  for 
sale.     As  only  a  few  copies  can   be  had.  persons  wishing  copies  mu.-t  order  at  OIH-P. 
We  have  been  constituted  sole  agents  for  the  sale  ol  the  publications  of  the  above  in 
stitution,  and  sh;ill  announce  them  as  issued. 
MORSE.— DOLMENS  IN  JAPAN.         ........       20 

EVIDENCES  OF  CANNIBALISM  IN  AN  EARLY  RACE  OF  JAPAN       15 
TRACES  OF  AN  EARLY  RACE  IN  JAPAN.    ILLUSTRATED  WITH 

many  tine  wood  cuts.          ......  53 


IMPORTANT  TO  ARCHAEOLOGISTS, 


WK  wish  to  call  attention  to  our  recent  publication  on  the  Archae 
ology  of  southern  Missouri,  by  Prof.  VV.  B.  POTTER  and  Dr.  EDWAKD 
EVEKS.  of  the  St.  Louis  Academy  of  Science,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

The  interesting  investigations  among  the  numerous  mounds  of  this 
region  have  brought  to  light  a  very  large  and  valuable  series  of  objects 
bearing  upon  the  history  of  those  mysterious  people,  known  as 

THE    MOUND    BUILDERS. 

Archaeologists  cannot  fail  to  appreciate  any  efforts  or  discoveries 
tending  to  clear  up  the  mystery  connected  with  this  nation,  of  whose  ex 
istence  the  only  knowledge  we  have  is  the  remains  of  their  handiwork  in 

THE  POTTERY  AND   OTHER  RELICS   EXHUMED 

from  their  burial  mounds.  Much  of  the  pottery  taken  from  the  mounds 
is  of  a  very  interesting  character.  The  above  work,  which  constitutes 
Part  1  of  the  Contributions  to  the  Archceoloyy  of  Southem  Missouri,  is  de 
voted  to  this  subject,  and  is  illustrated  with 

24  Lithographic  Plates  of  Pottery  and  5  Maps 
of  the  localities  from  which  the  specimens  were  taken.     Prof.  Potter  and 
Dr.  Kvers  have  devoted   much   attention  to  this  class  of  investigation, 
and  otter  the  work  as  a  thorough  and  exhaustive  treatise  on  this  interest 
ing  subject.     Royal  quarto,  postpaid,  §2  50. 

Address  GEO.   A.   BATES,  SAI.KM,  MASS. 


NATURALISTS'    HANDY    SERIES, 


No.  1.     LIFK  ON  THE  SEASHORE.     By  JAMKS  H.  EMKKTON.     Price, 

81.50. 

No.  2.     NATURALISTS'  ASSISTANT.     By  J.  S.  KIXGSLKY.     In  press. 

No.  3.     BOTANICAL   COLLECTOR'S  HANDBOOK.     By  PUOF.  W.AV. 
BULKY,  of  Brown  University,  Providence,  H.  I.     Price  .$1.50. 

No.  4.     BIRDS'- NESTING.     By  EUNKST    INGKKSOLL,  author  of  Nests 
<i.nd  E(j(js  of  American  Birds.     Price  $1.25. 

No.  5.     SHORT  STUDIES  Ot?  FAMILIAR  ANIMALS.      By  CIIAS.  C. 
AHHOTT,  M.  I).,  author  of  Primitive  Industry.     In  press. 

These  works  are  all  fully  illustrated,  and  will  prove  of  great  practical 
value  to  naturalists. 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
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